Press Release
Source: National GUITAR Museum
Tommy Emmanuel – Photo courtesy of NGM
The National GUITAR Museum announced that Tommy Emmanuel, one of the most revered guitarists to ever pick up the instrument, will receive its annual “Lifetime Achievement” Award for 2023. Emmanuel is the fourteenth recipient of the award.
Emmanuel’s musicianship spans more than half a century of virtuoso guitar playing, from childhood touring and session work on to earning the title of “Certified Guitar Player” (an honor bestowed by guitar pioneer Chet Atkins on just four people—ever.) His stunning recordings and intense touring schedule have led to him becoming perhaps the most popular acoustic guitarist in the world.
“To watch Tommy play fingerstyle guitar is to see possibilities in the guitar that most guitarists don’t even know exist,” according to HP Newquist, the executive director of The National GUITAR Museum. “Tommy’s extraordinary skill is second to none among modern guitar players. He truly is one of the few players in history about whom the term “jaw-dropping” is perfectly suited. Over his decades-long career he has become both an icon and an inspiration, and we’re honored to be able to recognize Tommy’s contribution to the guitar with this award.”
“I want to thank the National Guitar Museum for this wonderful honor. I feel like it was yesterday when I started playing this beautiful instrument,” said Tommy. “I will always be grateful to my parents for nurturing us kids as youngsters, encouraging us and exposing us to good music, and the artists who exemplified the words “Talented Entertainers”. The guitar has taken me places I could never have dreamed of, introduced me to audiences all over the world that I now have a relationship with, and kept that fire burning in my belly, to keep trying to learn more, play better, write deeper and give it all up on stage to the people I love playing for. I owe so much to so many who came before me and laid it all out. We, the lucky generation, have big shoes to fill.”
With over 40 albums (and counting), Emmanuel is certain to continue being one of the guitar’s greatest ambassadors well into the future. He will be touring the world yet again—including the United States, Europe, and Australia—throughout 2024.
More on Tommy Emmanuel can be found at https://tommyemmanuel.com/
About The National GUITAR Museum – The National GUITAR Museum (NGM) is the first museum in the United States dedicated to the history, evolution, and cultural impact of the guitar. Its touring exhibitions debuted in 2011 and have been presented in more than fifty museums across the country.
The museum currently has three touring exhibitions:
“America At The Crossroads: The GUITAR & A Changing Nation”
“Medieval To Metal” The Art & Evolution Of The GUITAR”
“Shape Shifting: The GUITAR As Modern ARTiftact”
Tommy Emmanuel joins previous NGM Lifetime Achievement Award recipients:
2010: David Honeyboy Edwards
2011: Roger McGuinn
2012: B.B. King
2013: Vic Flick
2014: Buddy Guy
2015: Tony Iommi
2016: Glen Campbell
2017: Bonnie Raitt
2018: Liona Boyd
2019: Jose Feliciano
2020: Eddie Van Halen (in memoriam)
2021: Al Di Meola
2022: Jeff Beck
2023: Tommy Emmanuel
The founder and Executive Director of the museum is HP Newquist, whose career includes writing 30 books, serving as Editor-In-Chief of GUITAR Magazine, and composing musical suites for the guitar.
The Museum’s Board of Advisors is comprised of guitar greats Ritchie Blackmore, Steve Howe, Steve Vai, Liona Boyd, Tony Iommi, and Al di Meola.
For more information, contact The National GUITAR Museum at director@nationalguitarmuseum.com
About Tommy Emmanuel (CGP) – Tommy Emmanuel has achieved enough musical milestones to satisfy several lifetimes. At the age of six, he was touring regional Australia with his family band. By 30, he was a rock n’ roll lead guitarist burning up stadiums in Europe. At 44, he became one of five people ever named a CPG (Certified Guitar Player) by his idol, music icon Chet Atkins. Today, he plays hundreds of sold-out shows every year from Nashville to Sydney to London. He’s piled up numerous accolades, including two Grammy Award nominations, two ARIA Awards from the Australian Recording Industry Association (the Aussie equivalent of the Recording Academy); repeated honors in the Guitar Player magazine reader’s poll including a cover story for their August 2017 issue; a cover feature for Vintage Guitar’s July 2020 issue; and was Music Radar’s reader’s poll #1 winner of the Ten Best Acoustic Guitarists in The World (December 2019).
A noted fingerstyle guitarist, EMMANUEL frequently threads three different parts simultaneously into his material, operating as a one-man band who handles the melody, the supporting chords and the bass all at once. His talents, which translate in any language, carry him to the far corners of the globe, but EMMANUEL never plays the same show twice, and he improvises big chunks of every date. That leaves him open to those technical imperfections, though they also provide some of the humanity to an other-worldly talent. On May 8, 2020, he released a newly recorded career-spanning double album, THE BEST OF TOMMYSONGS, via CGP Sounds/Cruzen Street Records). Watch the album trailer here which focuses on TOMMY’s unique ability to tell stories without words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SOQEMWYAQ4&feature=youtu.be.
EMMANUEL subsequently released three EP’s with different collaborators, Accomplice Series Vol. 1, 2 and 3, the last of which was in 2022.
For more information on TOMMY EMMANUEL, visit:
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