Two For One

WITH HELP FROM NAMES LIKE ISBELL, KNOPFLER, SKAGGS AND KAUKONEN, ACOUSTIC GREAT TOMMY EMMANUEL SERVES UP SOME COUNTRY-BALLAD “BORDERLINE,” BLUEGRASS “PURPLE HAZE” AND MORE ON HIS AMBITIOUS NEW ALBUM OF DUETS, ACCOMPLICE ONE.

- Joe Bosso

TOMMY EMMANUEL HAS recorded his fair share of collaborative albums with guitarists such as Chet Atkins, Martin Taylor and Frank Vignola, but he’s never attempted anything as wide-ranging and ambitious as Accomplice One. Over the course of 16 tracks, both originals and covers, the acoustic guitar master trades licks and vocals with a stunningly diverse group of artists like Jason Isbell, Mark Knopfler, Ricky Skaggs, Rodney Crowell, David Grisman and Jorma Kaukonen—and that’s just for starters.

“This project was a real labor of love and a lot of fun,” Emmanuel enthuses. “It gave me a chance to play with artists I admire, and I’m happy to call them friends. We always bump into each other at shows and say things like, ‘We should do something together,’ but a lot of times it never happens. So I decided, I’m gonna put together my wish list and get on it.”

Recording Accomplice One was no simple affair—in all it took two years to put together. The Australian-born Emmanuel, who has called Nashville home since 2003, insisted that, whenever possible, he and his guests would record together at one of two of his favorite studios, Music City’s OmniSound Studios and at Tunesmith Studios in the nearby town of Goodlettsville.