Tony McManus
“The best Celtic guitarist in the world”
(John Renbourn)
A guitarist with the kind of virtuosity and fluency with the subtleties of the Irish tradition displayed by the best fiddlers, flutists, and pipers wouldn’t appear until the mid-’90s.
That guitarist is Tony McManus.
(Acoustic Guitar Magazine)
Self taught from childhood, initially through listening to the family record collection, McManus abandoned academia in his twenties to pursue music full time. The session scene in Glasgow and Edinburgh provided the springboard for gigs around Scotland and a studio set for BBC Radio, frequently rebroadcast, began to spread the word.
In a relatively short time Tony’s music has come to define a new role for the guitar in Celtic music. He has come to represent Celtic music in the guitar world, making regular appearances at guitar specific events where just a few years ago jigs and reels would be unheard of. He is now invited annually to the Chet Atkins Festival in Nashville, has appeared at Guitar Festivals in Soave and Pescantina, Italy; Frankston, Australia; Issoudun, France; Kirkmichael, Scotland; Bath and Kent, England; Bochum and Osnabruck, Germany and has taught at five of Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Kamps in Maryville, Tennessee. He recently appeared at the famous Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in the “All Star Guitar Night” featuring Steve Morse, Bryan Sutton, Muriel Anderson, Béla Fleck and Victor Wooten and headlined by the legendary Les Paul.
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INSTRUMENTAL SOLO ARTIST OF THE YEAR – 2010 Canadian Folk Music Awards
At the Compass Records studio in Nashville Tony recorded The Maker’s Mark a solo CD featuring instruments from the collection of Dream Guitars founder Paul Heumiller. The adventure is documented
here.
To be left in a room with $175,000 worth of guitars is a bit of a kid in a candy store situation but they were put to good use; 14 solo tracks each on a different guitar and a finale featuring all 14 overdubbed.
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TONY McMANUS: The Maker’s Mark (Compass/Outside).
“The proof offered in this solo, all-instrumental collection makes it hard to dispute the oft-heard claim that McManus is Celtic music’s greatest guitarist.”
Mike Regenstreif (Sing Out! Magazine & Montreal Gazette)
