Tommy Emmanuel is one of acoustic music’s best regarded guitarists, having released dozens of albums and racked up numerous accolades (including a Grammy nomination) over the course of his nearly 40-year career. Now, the Australian musician is teaming up with some of country and roots music’s best and brightest for a new album of duets called Accomplice One.
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Ahead of the album’s release, Emmanuel has shared “Looking Forward To The Past,” a twangy duet with Rodney Crowell that finds the pair harmonizing and picking over a hardscrabble beat.
“When [Crowell] asked me to play on his new album, I suggested we trade and he sing on my album,” Emmanuel says. “It was a deal! When I went to his studio to play on his track, he sang me this song and I came back the next day and we recorded ‘Looking Forward To The Past.’ Rodney works the same way I like to: sitting down and playing as if it’s in front of an audience. We capture a performance, and we don’t manufacture it.”
“Playing guitar and singing with Tommy Emmanuel is like catching a ride with an F-15 fighter jet pilot,” Crowell adds. “Gravity has no effect on Tommy; it’s as if he literally flies a guitar.”
Other guests on Accomplice One include Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, Mark Knopfler, Ricky Skaggs, and Suzzy Bogguss. The album is out January 19 via CGP Sounds and Thirty Tigers.
Listen to “Looking Forward To The Past” below.
