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By Dave Miller

XZo

I had never seen Tommy Emmanuel play, but I heard others rave about him. Now I know why they do.

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Emmanuel put on a dazzling display of acoustic guitar playing Saturday night in the first of two shows at the Park West. It had to be seen to be believed. After watching the nearly two-hour show, I’m convinced there isn’t much more anyone else can do with the instrument. Emmanuel leaves you with the impression that he’s the last word on the acoustic guitar. It’s no wonder that the readers of Guitar Player Magazine named him the “Best Acoustic Guitarist in the World” again this year.

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The 55-year-old Australian was influenced as a boy by Chet Atkins and you can see that in his fingerpicking and hear it in the country rhythms that appear regularly and serve as a touchtone base as he ventures into a wide range of music including jazz, classical, country and rock. Emmanuel’s style is complex. He uses his thumb to play bass, often to thunderous effect, and his fingers to pick, while his left hand dances along the fretboard, often in frenetic fashion. The gunslinger can play so quickly that it’s hard for your eyes and brain to keep up and process everything he’s playing. He takes your ears on a thrill ride.

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Emmanuel took the stage looking fit with closely cropped hair. While he looks the part of an experienced master, he also emanates a youthful ebullience with his energy and enthusiasm. He demanded everyone’s attention early with hard strumming and a loud bass effect. Emmanuel intersperses songs he sings with instrumentals. After opening with instrumentals, he sang a couple Merle Travis songs including “Sixteen Tons.” His mellow voice goes nicely with his rich-sounding playing.

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Emmanuel didn’t change guitars much and used the same worn one for the first half of the show as if to emphasize it’s the player and not the guitar. He used the entire guitar, too, scratching the wood below the bridge to create a drum-brush effect, playing the strings against the microphone stand and using an actual drum brush to slap the guitar, strings and microphone to produce various sounds during his version of an extended drum solo which saw him banging on the guitar like a set of bongos.

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For all of the cool “special effects,” I enjoyed Emmanuel’s more intimate playing the most. He played a new song called “The Trails,” which he wrote after hearing a Navaho chief play a flute at a scholarship fundraiser in Utah. Darn, if he didn’t make his guitar sound like a flute as his sparse playing traveled deep into the soul. His delicate, jazzy cover of The Beatles’ “Michelle” was beautiful. “Those Who Wait,” sung partly in Swahili, was spiritual. Emmanuel gave a poignant introduction to a cover song he never named, but that turned out to be Anne Murray’s “You Needed Me.” He bordered on choking up as he talked about his starting over and God’s plan for him. He recited the lyrics unadorned before playing an instrumental version of the song.

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The Beatles were in abundance in the setlist. Emmanuel played “Here Comes the Sun,” “Day Tripper” and “Lady Madonna” before bringing out opener Frank Vignola for “Yesterday.” The pair put out an album last year called Just Between Frets. After a couple songs with Vignola, Emmanuel brought out Vignola’s guitar partner Vinny Raniolo for a handful more songs, some of which featured jaw-dropping speed playing.

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While the trio returned to the stage for an encore song, Emmanuel was at his best when he was performing alone. I’ve seen the best Australian electric guitarist in AC/DC’s Angus Young. Now I can say I’ve seen the country’s best acoustic guitarist in Emmanuel. He plays another show tonight at Park West.

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