New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Grammy Award winner TOMMY EMMANUEL - acoustic guitarist extraordinaire, composer, and global touring artist - has released a newly shot live performance video for "Bella Soave," a track from his upcoming album ENDLESS ROAD: 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION out May 17.
Regarded as a landmark album within TOMMY's body of work, Endless Road has now been newly remastered for digital outlets and will also be available for the first time ever on vinyl. The beautiful and evocative "Bella Soave" is among the album's highlights. TOMMY recalls that he wrote the song in the back of car while traveling from Soave (near Verona), where he had just spent a few days at a guitar festival, down to Rome.
"The song was written after my first visit in Soave, Italy in 1999. It was the first festival I ever played," recalls TOMMY. "I was so happy and overjoyed from the experience of the festival that I started writing when I got into the backseat of the car. We were driving from Soave down to Rome for a show and workshop, and I wrote this song on the way there. I got it finished and played it that night at the show. I tried to give it a sort of Spanish feel in the bridge because I had met a lot of Spaniards that weekend at the festival," he adds. "'Bella Soave' means 'beautiful Soave.' It's a beautiful place and has been a big part of my musical life."
ENDLESS ROAD: 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION will include three never-before released live bonus tracks: "Mona Lisa (Live)," "Mr. Guitar (Live)," and "Morning Aire (Live)," the latter of which was unveiled on May 2.
TOMMY views Endless Road as a "wonderful album in my life and in my career. It has a lot of songs that I get asked to play, like 'The Endless Road,' 'Angelina,' '(The Man With The) Green Thumb,' and 'Mona Lisa.'" He adds that these songs "are dear to my heart and dear to my fans and friends out there."
ENDLESS ROAD: 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION also includes his covers of "Windy & Warm" and "Somewhere Over The Rainbow." In addition, the remastered album will feature a live version of "Mr. Guitar." (The studio version of the song, by TOMMY and Michael Cleveland, was released this past March as first single from the new multi-artist album WE STILL CAN'T SAY GOODBYE - A Musicians' Tribute to Chet Atkins.) TOMMY recently wrote "Mr. Guitar" in honor of his idol and music icon Chet Atkins, who called TOMMY "one of the best guitar players I've ever seen." In fact, TOMMY is one of five people ever named a CPG (Certified Guitar Player) by Chet Atkins, the innovator, songwriter, producer, record company executive, and visionary. Nashville and the music industry are preparing to celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday on June 20.
Meanwhile, TOMMY was honored this past February when he and guitar trio The String Revolution won the Grammy® Award in the "Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella" category for their unique reimagining of Johnny Cash's classic "Folsom Prison Blues." Sharing the Grammy Award with them was The Man in Black's son John Carter Cash, who produced the single. Watch the video for "Folsom Prison Blues" now.
TOMMY is also coming off a dynamic 2023. He released his acclaimed collaborations album ACCOMPLICE TWO to great acclaim and earned the "Lifetime Achievement" Award from The National GUITAR Museum.
2024 North American Tour dates:
Tuesday, May 7 - Durham, NC - The Carolina Theatre of Durham
Wednesday, May 8 - Richmond, VA -Carpenter Theatre
Thursday, May 9 - Gettysburg, PA - The Majestic Theatre
Friday, May 10 - Gettysburg, PA - The Majestic Theatre
Saturday, May 11 - Newton, NJ - The Newton Theatre
Sunday, May 12 - Westhampton Beach, NY - Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center
Tuesday, May 14 - Lebanon, NH - Lebanon Opera House
Wednesday, May 15 - New London, CT - Garde Arts Center
Thursday, May 16 - Lexington, MA - Cary Hall
Friday, May 17 - Albany, NY - The Egg
Saturday, May 18 - Port Chester, NY - The Capitol Theatre
Sunday, May 19 - McKees Rocks, PA - Roxian Theatre
Tuesday, May 21 - Buffalo, NY - Asbury Hall
Wednesday, May 22 - St Catharines, ON - FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre
Thursday, May 23 - Oshawa, ON - Regent Theatre
Monday, June 17 - Bend, OR - Tower Theatre
Tuesday, June 18 - Bend, OR - Tower Theatre
Sunday, June 23 - Telluride, CO - Telluride Bluegrass Festival
Wednesday, October 9 - London, ON - Centennial Hall
Thursday, October 10 - Toronto, ON - Massey Hall
Friday, October 11 - Kitchener, ON - Center in the Square (Kitchener)
Saturday, October 12 - Ottawa, ON - Meridian Theatres
Sunday, October 13 - Montreal, QC - Place Des Arts Maison Symphonique
Tuesday, October 15 - Fredericton, NB - The Fredericton Playhouse
Wednesday, October 16 - Moncton, NB - Capitol Theatre
Thursday, October 17 - Saint John, NB - Imperial Theatre
Saturday, October 19 - Halifax, NS - Rebecca Cohn Auditorium
TOMMY EMMANUEL has achieved enough musical milestones to satisfy several lifetimes. At the age of six, the Grammy® Award winner 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.
