TOMMY EMMANUEL of us on planet Earth right now that at every show, new people are discovering my music. And then at every show, people discover other young players. There’ s a constant flow of young people wanting to learn fingerstyle through places like Berklee College of Music. There are great young players everywhere. There’ s a lot of room in China now. I just did a tour of China last year, and holy smoke, I met so many young players every single night who were just dying to play for you. They really were in it for the long haul. And it’ s a wonderful thing. This was what Chet and I talked about. He said,“ You know, I don’ t want to travel. I’ m too old. I need you to take this music to the public and show them how much fun it is and what a good life you can have if you get dedicated to it.”
It’ s clear Chet passed that torch to you— but let’ s back up. How did the two of you even connect in the first place? It seems so unlikely— him in Nashville, Guitar City, and you all the way out in Australia. Well, I didn’ t feel I had to think about whether I had a choice or not! There was no point in arguing with where I was or how the hell I got there. Things happened that were pretty amazing. Just the fact that I got invited to the Country Music Showcase by Sony Australia— they brought me to Nashville and the record company and Chet saw me. They’ d never seen me play live. That was the reason why Chet called me and asked me to record. Because up until that point, we were pen pals and I was his devoted fan. Then he saw a show and saw what happened to the crowd. The record company said,“ What’ s going on here?!” And a week later he rang me and his words were,“ Well, this record company is so
excited about you, and I think it’ d be really great if we could record together.” I mean, I was doing well at home in Australia. I had a blessed life and a wonderful career going. I didn’ t know how I was going to get things going in the United States and in Europe and all that. And that one phone call, thankfully, lit another fire in me and I haven’ t stopped since.
Even though you have dual citizenship with Australia and the US, and I know you’ re proud of that, you’ re playing what is essentially American music— country, blues, fingerstyle. How have you maintained your home-
PHOTO CREDIT SIMONE CECCHETTI
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