Événement

Tony Furtado in concert at the Peninsula Arts Center

Very few musicians of any stripe so personify a musical genre as completely as Tony Furtado embodies Americana roots music. Tony is an evocative and soulful singer, a wide-ranging songwriter and a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist adept on banjo, cello-banjo, slide guitar and baritone ukulele who mixes and matches sounds and styles with the flair of a master chef (hes also an accomplished sculptor, but thats another story). All of the music of America is in Tonys music. Relix hit the nail on the head when writing of Tony: True talent doesnt need categories.

He first attracted national attention in 1987, when he won the National Bluegrass Banjo Championship in Winfield, Kansas. Not long after that, a second victory at Winfield, in 1991, bookended his first years as a professional musician.

Beginning in the late 1990sinfluenced by such musical heroes as Ry Cooder, David Lindley and Taj MahalTony added slide guitar, singing and songwriting to his musical toolbox and began leading his own band. He is a tireless road musician who performs in a dizzying variety of formats: solo, in a duo or trio or with his full five-person band. He especially values the opportunities he has had to tour with such legendary musicians as Gregg Allman and with such esteemed slide guitarists as David Lindley, Derek Trucks and Sonny Landreth.

Tony has performed throughout the world at top venues and appeared at such prestigious music festivals as the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, High Sierra Music Festival, Jazz Aspen, Kerrville Folk Festival, Strawberry Music Festival, Winnipeg Folk Festival, Sisters Folk Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival and countless others. I love playing live, he says. All my energy is focused on the love of playing music and rolling with the moment. Its a give and take from the audience to the stage, and back. And the music that is created is something that otherwise might not occur without that flow.

Concerts benefit the Long Beach Peninsula Acoustic Music Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization.