Tommy was my first cousin. His mother, Hazel, was my father's twin. We stayed with him in Old Town every summer for two weeks when I was growing up. I agree he had hit the wall. He was depressed. I wish I had gotten that photo from you. I have a few of us as kids hanging out on the Swannee but not many, and nothing signed. It would have felt odd to ask him for that. When he died, Hazel sold off his guitar. I wanted it SO much but couldn't afford it at the time. I miss him. Funny, talented, and self deprecating. Humble. RIP Tommy, I love you.
I remember this well because I was there when we did the recording in Nashville along with Jonathan Burchfield and others. I later booked and took Tommy on a mini-tour to Minneapolis, Winfield, Branson, and Indianapolis. Besides a genius on fingerstyle guitar, Tommy was a great golfer...We had a small gig in Valparaiso, IN and went golfing that afternoon. Tommy had been in an accident and was hobbling a bit. Despite that, this man could hit the ball. He had a big heart but way too many personal issues with drinking. I did what I could at the time for him as I didn't have much money. I never attempted to make money on the gigs we did and in fact always gave him all the funds. I was doing it for posterity and in retrospect, I would do the same thing all over again. I never asked for anything in return. Like Steve Vai once said to me, when you wake up depressed every morning, it just doesn't go away no matter what you do. I believe Tommy had reached that point. I gave Doyle Dykes my last signed photo of Tommy and Doyle thanked me. Doyle and Jonatha, Burchfield are two of the best fingerstyle performers in the world today. I'm glad those two are still with us. In that sense I'm a very lucky person.
Incredible arrangement! He plays like he has four brains! I can't help but be sad watching this video. We lost this guy way too soon. Thanks for posting so Tommy's playing can live on for others to enjoy. He was one of the best ever.
Wow - I just discovered this guy because Tommy Emmanuel mentioned him in a dedication on the song "Old Town" in his lesson book for Endless Road. Those harmonics techniques are beautiful. Amazing!
THE VIBRATO WITH THE PINKY AT 4:50,,, in that stretched out formation,,,,, and staying in tune,,,,, and no buzzes,,,,,,,,,then bend it to the next note... what a performance!!
after 43 years of playing pretty good guitar,after seeing this I only have one thing to say..."FOR SALE.....massive collection of fine guitars....will trade for basket weaving kit"
LOL! Don't feel like you are alone in the boat... I feel like that all the time, especially with these pre-pubescent prodigies on RU-vid who can play circles around me. But, for what it's worth, if like Tommy, that's ALL you did, all day, every day, with his passion, your chops may be on par with his. But, some of us have to work for a living, ya know?... ;)
northcoastviking - I have heard that excuse before but actually is not totally true. I have played professionally for 38 years and I have observed two things concerning your statement. One is that in most cases, the more time a person has, the more time they waste. Two, when you are on the road playing show after show you really don't want to practice because you suffer from burnout. Only a rare few, like Tommy, have the gift and drive to keep practicing in either case. I have also witnessed players that practice hours everyday, plateau and never get any better than mediocre. But I totally agree with you about these RU-vid kids...they blow my mind and make me want to sell my guitars and take up fishing...lol!
Tommy was as good if not better than any one that includes the big names we all know and hear , He never got the push and credit he had coming to him I met Tommy in 88 at CAAS great guy Ive heard every thing from he was black balled to he couldnt stop drinking I dont Know I met him he shook my hand a treasured memory for me RIP Tommy
On this set of songs Tommy plays black mountain rag, I use to have it saved but is now gone and I cannot find it anywhere. Does anyone have any suggestions?
marcus blade The feeling of a song is whatever the musician playing it wants it to be. This ain't classical. Des never meant for other people to play it the way he did. You ought to keep your comments to yourself until you learn something about music. "Robot?" Good grief....
Barry Gregg You know Barry there is always one wannbe that has to play arm chair quarterback .., momma always told me if you have nothing good to say about someone then its better to say nothing at all a principle that this guy never learned as a kid
