TOMMY EMMANUEL Shares Video For “Far Away Places” With Raul Malo Of The Mavericks

DT: AUGUST 7, 2023

FM: MITCH SCHNEIDER/ANDREA FAULK/LYNDIE WENNER
SRO PR (LOS ANGELES, NASHVILLE, LAS VEGAS)

TOMMY EMMANUEL
SHARES VIDEO FOR
“FAR AWAY PLACES” WITH RAUL MALO
OF THE MAVERICKS

RELEASED IN HONOR OF
MALO WHO CELEBRATES HIS BIRTHDAY TODAY
WATCH THE VIDEO, FILMED LIVE IN THE STUDIO, HERE
RETURNS TO AMERICA ON SEPTEMBER 7 FOR MAJOR FALL TOUR

Artist: Tommy Emmanuel:
Photo Credit: Simone Cecchett

Grammy-nominated acoustic guitarist extraordinaire, composer and global touring artist TOMMY EMMANUEL has shared the video for “Far Away Places” featuring Raul Malo who today (August 7) is celebrating his birthday. Watch the video HERE.

The acoustically performed song is a tender and aching expression of longing. It appears on EMMANUEL’s current album ACCOMPLICE TWO (the follow-up to 2018’s Accomplice One album) that was released this past April via CGP Sounds. “Far Away Places” is an American standard, written by Joan Whitney and Alex Kramer, first popularized by Bing Crosby and then Vera Lynn. Joshua Britt and Neilson Hubbard (for Neighborhoods Apart) directed and edited the video, which captures EMMANUEL and Malo recording the song live together at Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, TN. The video was premiered earlier today by Glide.

“When you work with Tommy, anything is possible,” says Malo, who turns in a masterfully subtle and emotionally stirring performance. “His command of arrangements and melodies allows you to dig deep into a treasure chest of songs that only a few on the planet dare play. He is that kind of musician.”

“I chose to put this song as the final one on this album because it leaves us with a feeling of comfort and lets us marvel over such a great vocal performance,” says TOMMY. “It was my honor to record with Raul—he’s in a league of his own!”

Q&A with TOMMY About “Far Away Places”:

What inspired your collaboration with Raul Malo on “Far Away Places”?

“When I asked Raul to sing a song with me for this album, he sent me three choices of Sam Cooke recordings.  We knew it had to be a song that would suit just voice and guitar, not a big production. I chose “Faraway Places” for its beautiful melody, simple structure and Raul’s fabulous style of singing it! As you can see by the video, it was a stunning and perfect vocal performance by Raul—I am so proud to be his accompanist!”

“Far Away Places” is an American standard, written by Joan Whitney and Alex Kramer, and first popularized in 1948 by Bing Crosby (peaking at #2 on the Billboard chart). What led you to interpret the song?

“I didn’t hear the original Bing Crosby version; I heard Sam Cooke singing it and knew Raul would smash it out of the park! With a tight schedule to keep, I had to choose a song that I could arrange quickly and get a recording / performance in one or two takes. Raul and I did two takes and the second one is the one we thought was the best.”

On this track, you play with nylon string and steel string guitars. Can you talk about the dynamic of playing these two different guitars and what it brings to the song?

“I played my Kirk San Nylon-string guitar for the main accompaniment, then overdubbed the solo on my Maton Steel String. I kept it simple and tried to stay on the melody in my solo, an obvious choice to me.”

Look for TOMMY, coming off his July U.S. tour dates, to return to America September 7 for a major fall tour. See the dates below.

Produced lovingly by EMMANUEL, regarded by guitar great Chet Atkins as “one of the best guitar players I’ve ever seen,” the 16-track ACCOMPLICE TWO is a spirited mix of new takes on indelible classics and brand-new originals from TOMMY. His collaborators are some of the most remarkable musicians on the planet—an “A” list of musicians including Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Michael McDonald, Jamey Johnson, Raul Malo, and many more (the full list is HERE). View the album’s critical praise HERE. EMMANUEL has continued to release videos including most recently these, filmed by Joshua Britt and Neilson Hubbard for Neighborhoods Apart.

“Mombasa” with Yasmin Williams
“Sweet Temptation” with The Del McCoury Band
“Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man)” with Jamey Johnson

ACCOMPLICE TWO is alive with the electric spirit of spontaneous, timeless joy created by inspired virtuosos. The combined artistry contained on these tracks is stunning, as is TOMMY’s cheerful ease at connecting naturally with this vast spectrum of musicians. Like the first volume, he merges the presence of beloved, legendary musicians—such as Jorma Kaukonen, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Little Feat, Sam Bush, the Del McCoury Band and Jerry Douglas—with the bright spirit of acclaimed young artists breaking through with deep artistry and true reverence for the power of song.

EMMANUEL recently shared a freewheeling “10 Questions” Q&A (below) where he talks about his inspirations and an array of subjects including his “Spinal Tap” moment; the JFK assassination; his desire to be on a bill with Carole King and James Taylor; and watching (as a kid) Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. Read it HERE.

Here are TOMMY’s U.S. tour dates for 2023. The full international list of dates is HERE.

Accomplice Two Cover Art

ABOUT TOMMY EMMANUEL:

TOMMY EMMANUEL has achieved enough musical milestones to satisfy several lifetimes. At the age of six, he was touring regional Australia with his family band. By 30, he was a rock n’ roll lead guitarist burning up stadiums in Europe. At 44, he became one of five people ever named a CPG (Certified Guitar Player) by his idol, music icon Chet Atkins. Today, he plays hundreds of sold-out shows every year from Nashville to Sydney to London. He’s piled up numerous accolades, including two Grammy Award nominations, two ARIA Awards from the Australian Recording Industry Association (the Aussie equivalent of the Recording Academy); repeated honors in the Guitar Player magazine reader’s poll including a cover story for their August 2017 issue; a cover feature for Vintage Guitar’s July 2020 issue; and was Music Radar’s reader’s poll #1 winner of the Ten Best Acoustic Guitarists in The World (December 2019). A noted fingerstyle guitarist, EMMANUEL frequently threads three different parts simultaneously into his material, operating as a one-man band who handles the melody, the supporting chords and the bass all at once. His talents, which translate in any language, carry him to the far corners of the globe, but EMMANUEL never plays the same show twice, and he improvises big chunks of every date. That leaves him open to those technical imperfections, though they also provide some of the humanity to an other-worldly talent. On May 8, 2020, he released a newly recorded career-spanning double album, THE BEST OF TOMMYSONGS, via CGP Sounds/Cruzen Street Records). Watch the album trailer here which focuses on TOMMY’s unique ability to tell stories without words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SOQEMWYAQ4&feature=youtu.be. EMMANUEL subsequently released three EP’s with different collaborators, Accomplice Series Vol. 1, 2 and 3, the last of which was in 2022.

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