Tommy Emmanuel

Tommy Emmanuel came to the guitar young and never really left it. Born William Thomas Emmanuel in Muswellbrook, New South Wales, in 1955, he was earning a living as a musician by the age of six, and the Australian's fingerstyle owes much to Chet Atkins, whom he first heard on the radio in 1961. Atkins's method of carrying bass lines, chords and melody at once with the thumb and fingers of the right hand remains the core of his playing, though jazz, blues, bluegrass and rock all find their way in. He plays without a setlist and usually records in a single take.

Family life shaped him early. His father built a family band around him and Phil, and after their father's death Buddy Williams took the brothers on tour, and Emmanuel later recorded several of Williams's albums. He joined Dragon for 1986–1988 and again in 1995, including a 1987 tour with Tina Turner, and in 1997 moved to Nashville at Chet Atkins's invitation. Atkins later named him a Certified Guitar Player in 1999. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2010, and in 2025 the University of Newcastle awarded him an honorary doctorate.