Ahead of Valentine’s Day tomorrow, TOMMY EMMANUEL has today (February 13) released the single and video “Secret Love” from his upcoming album LIVE AT THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE (C.G.P. Sounds) that’s due out March 21. Listen to the instrumental track HERE and watch the live performance video, beautifully filmed by Bondi Rocks Media at the Sydney Opera House in his native Australia, HERE. Pre-order/pre-save the album HERE.
TOMMY EMMANUEL is an acoustic guitarist extraordinaire, composer, global touring artist, and Grammy® Award winner. He’s also one of five people ever to be named a C.G.P. (Certified Guitar Player) by Chet Atkins, the great innovator, songwriter, producer, record company executive, and visionary.
“I've loved ‘Secret Love’ since I was six years old,” says TOMMY. “I first heard it as a pop hit on radio, then heard many other versions that kept it in my life. I was looking for a song I could play in my harmonic, almost piano style, and this diamond came back to me. Hope you enjoy this version—it's in honor of [the late American-Canadian guitarist] Lenny Breau!!”
“Secret Love” follows the release of the 16-track album’s first two singles/videos: “The Jolly Swagman” and “Gdansk/Tall Fiddler.” Of the latter track and video, Americana UK’s Andrew Frolish wrote:
“It is such a joy to see Tommy Emmanuel work his way around the fret board in ‘Gdansk/Tall Fiddler.’ From around halfway through, his fingers really fly and it’s utterly spellbinding. Emmanuel’s strumming pattern is delightfully rhythmic, and he plays with incredible precision. There’s also a lightness of touch and a musical freedom in his melody that the audience at The Sydney Opera House respond to in this live performance video.”
EMMANUEL is no stranger to iconic stages from Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium to London’s Royal Festival Hall and Paris’ L’Olympia. The legendary entertainer has dazzled audiences across the world. But there’s something truly magical about the Sydney Opera House, and the magic of his sold-out performances there has finally been captured on this new EMMANUEL-produced album. It features 16 tracks, four of which are medleys, including his famous “Beatles Medley” (a previous live version of this has been viewed more than 2 million times on YouTube).
"The moment and power in these hours spent playing music, is perfectly preserved here on this record,” says TOMMY. “I hope you can feel the intensity of our musical and spiritual relationship… a bond built on a life freely given to all.”
He played two spellbinding shows on the Concert Hall stage in May 2023, with the best of both performances represented here. The setlist showcases the most beloved songs of TOMMY’s career—classic compositions like “Tall Fiddler,” “Mombasa,” and “Country Wide,” recent fan favorites like “Fuel” and “Sail On,” his now iconic arrangement of “Classical Gas,” and his thrilling “Beatles Medley.”
“As a 15-year-old boy living in Circular Quay, I spent many a time walking past the Opera House,” he says. “I would daydream about what it must be like in there, what it would be like to perform there. After fifty years in the business, we finally got there!”
“Playing the shows for this recording was a dream come true for me,” TOMMY adds. “I felt so ready! I was surrounded by my team of brilliant people, and I was looking into the faces of so many loving and happy fans in the concert Hall. The momentum and power in these hours spent playing music, is perfectly captured and preserved here on this record. I hope you can feel the intensity of our musical and spiritual relationship…a bond built on a life freely given to all.”
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. You can hear his wizardry captured brilliantly on LIVE AT THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE.
Here’s the album’s track listing:
Countrywide
Fuel
The Jolly Swagman
Deep River Blues -Doc’s Guitar -Blue Smoke -Cannonball Rag
Song for a Rainy Morning
Since We Met
Secret Love
Drums/Mombasa
Gdansk -Tall Fiddler
Smokey Mountain Lullaby
Windy & Warm
Beatles Medley -She’s A Women -Please Please Me -While My Guitar Gently Weeps -Day Tripper -Lady Madonna
Classical Gas
April Sun in Cuba
Sail On
American Tune
-Waltzing Matilda
Here are TOMMY’s North American tour dates for 2024-25. The full international list of dates is HERE.
2025
March 25 – Thunder Bay, ON – Thunder Bay Community Auditorium
March 26 – Winnipeg, MB – Burton Cummings Theatre
March 27 – Saskatoon, SK – TCU Place
March 28 – Regina, SK – Conexus Arts Centre
March 30 – Calgary, AB – The Jak Singer Concert Hall
March 31 – Edmonton, AB – Winspear Centre
April 1 – Kelowna, BC – Kelowna Community Theatre
April 2 – Vancouver, BC – The Centre for Performing Arts
April 4 – Victoria, BC – Royal Theatre
April 5 – Campbell River, BC – Tidemark Theatre
July 21 – Halifax, NS – Rebecca Cohn Auditorium
October 11 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
