**Take advantage of advance ticket prices, as they go up the day of the show!** ADV: $18/$16 MEM; DOS: $20/$18 MEM
In a little more than 10 years as a professional musician, Tony McManus is recognized throughout the world as the leading guitarist in Celtic music. From early childhood his twin obsessions of traditional music and acoustic guitar have worked together to produce a startlingly original approach to this ancient art. In his hands, the complex ornamentation normally associated with fiddles and pipes are accurately transferred to guitar in a way that preserves the integrity and emotional impact of the music.
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. With the loyal support of Greentrax Recordings in Scotland, his first self-titled recording in 1996, followed by Pourquoi Quebec in 1999, led to worldwide recognition.
However, it was with the release of Ceol More in 2002 that McManus’ stature as a first-class musician reached a new level. Having heard his session work on several albums, Nashville-based Compass Records released Ceol More in North America to universally ecstatic reviews. Critics hailed the focused, spell-binding nature of the music, from the plaintive Jewish hymn, “Shalom Aleichem,” to the ingenious arrangement of the Charles Mingus tune, “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.” Having been nominated as Musician of the Year by both the BBC Folk Awards and The Scottish Traditonal Music awards, Ceol More hit the Critic’s Album of the year list in Acoustic Guitar magazine and was named Live Ireland Awards’ Album of the Year.
Today his live work ranges from intimate solo performance through various duos with friends Alain Genty, Bruce Molsky and Alasdair Fraser to the quartet, Men of Steel (with fellow guitarists Dan Crary, Beppe Gambetta and Don Ross). He is an enthusiastic collaborator who has worked with Dougie McLean, Phil Cunningham, Mairi MacInnes, Liam O’Flynn, Martin Simpson, Kevin Burke, Alison Brown, Martyn Bennett, Natalie MacMaster, Patrick and Jacky Molard, Mairead ní Mhoanaigh and Dermot Byrne, The Nashville Chamber Orchestra, John Jorgenson, and many more. He is also in great demand as a studio musician, having contributed to more than 60 albums.
