Tommy Emmanuel & John Knowles - Heart Songs

Tommy Emmanuel & John Knowles - Heart Songs - 2019

Heart Songs is an album comprised of songs about love and played directly from the hearts of Tommy Emmanuel and John Knowles. The two CGP’s took some of their favorite classic songs about love and rearranged them into something really special. On the guitar, Emmanuel got to emulate some of his favorite singers like Hank Williams, Michael McDonald, Billy Joel, and Bonnie Raitt. There are Broadway numbers like “Somewhere" from West Side Story and "Where Is Love" from Oliver!. There are also some original songs like "After Paris" by Knowles and "Eva Waits” by Emmanuel. 

Recorded at EastWest Studios in Los Angeles, Heart Songs features arrangements of Hank Williams’ "Cold, Cold Heart,"  the Bee Gees’ "How Deep Is Your Love," Billy Joel’s "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" and Michael McDonald’s "I Can Let Go Now" among its 14 tracks.

Said McDonald about the cover of “I Can Let Go Now,” "To hear a master like Tommy Emmanuel interpret any song is a joyous and emotional experience to say the least. To hear such a master perform one of your own compositions is the experience of a lifetime. One for which I'll be forever be grateful."

Said Emmanuel about the album, "A 'heart song' is really a love song. Love has many facets—love of family, romantic love. So we started there and then looked for melodies that could be played with heart."

Added Knowles, "And we tried to choose songs that people have heard. So that when they hear them, even though we're not singing or they may not know all the words, they have a connection to these songs in their own hearts."

Regarding their playing on the album, Emmanuel said, "It was a wakeup call to not overplay, to be respectful and serve the music properly.”

“When you're being respectful to the melody, you're also respecting the listener's previous experience with that song," said Knowles. "We play into their expectations while at the same time surprising them now and then."

01. Cold, Cold Heart (Hank Williams)

02. How Deep Is Your Love (The Bee Gees)
03. I Can't Stop Loving You (Don Gibson)
04. Somewhere (Leonard Bernstein from West Side Story)
05. I Can Let Go Now (Michael McDonald)
06. Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel) (Billy Joel)
07. After Paris (John Knowles)
08. Walkin' My Baby Back Home (Roy Turk & Fred Ahlert)
09. I Can't Make You Love Me (Allen Shamblin & Michael Reid)
10. Where Is Love (Lionel Bart)
11. He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother (Bobby Russell & Bobby Scott)
12. Eva Waits (Tommy Emmanuel)
13. Turning Home (Live)
14. How Deep Is Your Love (Live)


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Tommy Emmanuel - Accomplice One

Tommy Emmanuel - Accomplice One - 2018 

From americansongwriter.com

If we know anything about Australian master finger-picking guitarist Tommy Emmanuel it is that, among other things, he loves collaborations and has an affinity for Nashville. His recent 2017 live release was recorded at the Ryman, the city’s most storied venue, and his partnership with mandolin maestro David Grisman the same year was another in a long lineage of pairings with other musicians throughout his nearly 40-year solo career.

So it’s little surprise that Accomplice One emphasizes both those aspects of his professional persona. Each of its 16 tracks features a different collaborating artist with the majority recorded in, or just outside of Nashville. But while there are plenty of instances of acoustic fret shredding on this hour long romp — strap in as Emmanuel goes toe to toe with J.D. Simo’s Telecaster and banjo man Charlie Cushman on a hot wired “Wheelin’ & Dealin’”— there are just as many that display his subtlety and taste.

The opening cover of Doc Watson’s “Deep River Blues” is a sheer back porch delight as Jason Isbell trades vocals with Emmanuel. Isbell’s wife Amanda Shires lends her voice and fiddle to a surprisingly lovely and poignant re-arrangement of Madonna’s “Borderline” (as a waltz) that will make you hear the original dance song in an entirely different light. Rodney Crowell also steps in to sing his own folk/country composition “Looking Forward to the Past.”  

Read more  here


01. Deep River Blues (feat. Jason Isbell)
02. Song And Dance Man (feat. Ricky Skaggs)
03. Saturday Night Shuffle (feat. Jorma Kaukonen & Pat Bergeson)
04. Wheelin' & Dealin' (feat. J.d. Simo & Charlie Cushman)
05. C-Jam Blues (feat. David Grisman & Bryan Sutton)
06. (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay [feat. J.d. Simo]
07. Borderline (feat. Amanda Shires)
08. You Don't Want To Get You One Of Those (feat. Mark Knopfler)
09. Keepin' It Reel (feat. Clive Carroll)
10. Looking Forward To The Past (feat. Rodney Crowell)
11. Purple Haze (feat. Jerry Douglas)
12. Rachel's Lullaby (feat. Jake Shimabukuro)
13. Djangology (feat. Frank Vignola & Vinny Raaniolo)
14. Watson Blues (feat. David Grisman & Bryan Sutton)
15. Tittle Tattle (feat. Jack Pearson)
16. The Duke's Message (feat. Suzy Bogguss)



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