Tony McManus (born 1965) is a guitarist from Paisley, Scotland who plays finger-style acoustic guitar arrangements of tunes from

Celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celtic people of Northwestern Europe. It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and recorded music and the styles vary considerab ...

, classical music, and other genres. McManus emigrated from Scotland to Canada in 2003.

Music career

In 1988, McManus substituted for guitarist Soig Siberil in the supergroup

Celtic Fiddle Festival Celtic Fiddle Festival is a group of Celtic fiddlers active since 1993. Representing three branches of Celtic culture, the members were Johnny Cunningham from Scotland, late of Silly Wizard, Kevin Burke from Ireland, best known for the Bothy Ba ...

, which consisted of fiddlers

Johnny Cunningham Johnny Cunningham (27 August 1957 – 15 December 2003) was a Scottish folk musician and composer, instrumental in spreading interest in traditional Celtic music. Johnny Cunningham was born on 27 August 1957 in Portobello, Edinburgh. He was ra ...

, Kevin Burke, and

Christian Lemaitre Christian Lemaitre is a French musician specialising in the folk Music of Brittany, with an emphasis on Breton traditional fiddle music. He learned the instrument in his teens in Paris and later moved to Brittany. He joined Kornog in 1981 and lat ...

. He has worked as accompanist for

Catriona MacDonald Catriona Macdonald is a musician and teacher from Shetland and is considered to be one of the world's leading traditional fiddle players. Background Macdonald started studying fiddle with Dr Tom Anderson MBE in 1981 at age 11 (she consider ...

and for singer, guitarist, and fiddler

Brian McNeill Brian McNeill (born 6 April 1950, Falkirk, Scotland) is a Scottish folk multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer and musical director. He was a founding member of Battlefield Band which combined traditional Celtic melodies and new m ...

. McManus's album ''Return to Kintail'' was a duet with Scottish fiddler

Alasdair Fraser Alasdair Fraser (born 14 May 1955, Clackmannan, Scotland) is a Scottish fiddler, composer, performer and recording artist. Fraser operates Culburnie Records and is a leading artist on the label. He has founded five summer fiddling programs: ...

. In addition to traditional Celtic music, McManus plays

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

and other genres. He performed a piece by

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...

for the soundtrack of a movie by

Neil Jordan Neil Patrick Jordan (born 25 February 1950) is an Irish film director, screenwriter, novelist and short-story writer. His first book, '' Night in Tunisia'', won a Somerset Maugham Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1979. He won an Academy ...

. Mandolinist Mike Marshall prodded him to learn Bach's E Major Prelude. He performed a

chaconne A chaconne (; ; es, chacona, links=no; it, ciaccona, links=no, ; earlier English: ''chacony'') is a type of musical composition often used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short rep ...

J.S. Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suite ...

at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York City with

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...

guitarist

John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra * Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter * John McLaugh ...

. He released his first album, ''Tony McManus'', in 1996 on

Greentrax Recordings Greentrax Recordings are a Scottish record label that specialises in Scottish traditional music. History The label was founded in 1986 by former police inspector Ian Green, who played the bagpipes and was responsible for arranging folk music ...

. He recorded his second album, ''Pourquoi Quebec?'', in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada and released it on the same label in 1998. His third album, ''Ceol More'', was released in 2002 and achieved widespread critical acclaim. Christina Roden wrote on

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

: "As usual, his command of acoustic guitar technique is flawless, with a chesty, rounded, gorgeous tone and a knack for well-marked rhythms and singing phrases." Gordon Potter wrote in ''Living Tradition'', "Here is a musician demonstrating talent by making it seem understated. This is good, this is very good indeed, and there's not much else that can be said." The album includes a version of

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and ...

's ''Goodbye Porkpie Hat''. He recorded an album with

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

Alain Genty Alain may refer to: People * Alain (given name), common given name, including list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Alain (surname) * "Alain", a pseudonym for cartoonist Daniel Brustlein * Alain, a standard author abbreviation u ...

, titled ''Singing Sands''. In 2017, McManus was named one of "50 Transcendent Acoustic Guitarists" in ''Guitar Player'' magazine.

Signature model

In 2011,

PRS Guitars Paul Reed Smith Guitars, also known as PRS Guitars, is an American guitar and amplifier manufacturer located in Stevensville, Maryland. The company was founded in 1985 in Annapolis, Maryland by Paul Reed Smith. Products manufactured by PRS inclu ...

created a McManus signature model guitar, a distinction he shares with jazz guitarist

Al Di Meola Albert Laurence Di Meola (born July 22, 1954) is an American guitarist. Known for his works in jazz fusion and world music, he began his career as a guitarist of the group Return to Forever in 1974. Between the 1970s and 1980s, albums such as ' ...

, folk guitarist

Martin Simpson Martin Stewart Simpson (born 5 May 1953) is an English folk singer, guitarist and songwriter. His music reflects a wide variety of influences and styles, rooted in Britain, Ireland, America and beyond. He builds a purposeful, often upbeat voi ...

—and rock guitarists

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured ...

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...

Mark Lettieri Mark Lettieri (born c. 1984) is an American guitarist, composer and producer. He is a member of the jazz fusion band Snarky Puppy, funk band The Fearless Flyers, and also performs with his quartet, the Mark Lettieri Group. His background spans ...

Ted Nugent Theodore Anthony Nugent (; born December 13, 1948) is an American rock musician and activist. He initially gained fame as the lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist of The Amboy Dukes, a band formed in 1963 that played psychedelic rock an ...

, and

Orianthi Panagaris Orianthi Penny Panagaris (born 22 January 1985), known mononymously as Orianthi, is an Australian guitarist, singer and songwriter who rehearsed in 2009 with Michael Jackson in preparation for his '' This Is It'' concert series, and performed wi ...

. The custom model, designed by

Paul Reed Smith Paul Reed Smith (born February 18, 1956) is an American luthier and the founder and owner of PRS Guitars, a high-end guitar maker. Early life Smith graduated from Bowie High School in 1974. He also attended St. Mary's College of Maryland where ...

, went into development after McManus visited bluegrass musician

Ricky Skaggs Rickie Lee Skaggs (born July 18, 1954), known professionally as Ricky Skaggs, is an American neotraditional country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, ma ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

while on tour in America.

Discography

* ''Tony McManus'' (

Greentrax Greentrax Recordings are a Scottish record label that specialises in Scottish traditional music. History The label was founded in 1986 by former police inspector Ian Green, who played the bagpipes and was responsible for arranging folk music ...

, 1996) * ''Pourquoi Quebec?'' (Greentrax, 1998) * ''Return to Kintail'' with

(Culburnie, 1999) * ''Ceol More'' (

Compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...

, 2002) * ''Singing Sands'' with Alain Gentry (Compass, 2005) * ''The Maker's Mark'' (Compass, 2008) * ''Mysterious Boundaries'' (Compass, 2013) * ''Round Trip'' with

Beppe Gambetta Beppe Gambetta (born 1955) is an Italian acoustic guitarist and singer. A native of Genoa, he is a composer, teacher, author, and researcher of traditional music and instruments. Music career In 1977, Gambetta founded Red Wine, an Italian blue ...

(

Borealis Borealis (Latin for ''northern'' or ''of the north'') may refer to: Astronomy * Borealis Basin or North Polar Basin, a basin on the planet Mars * Borealis quadrangle, an area on the planet Mercury ** Borealis Planitia, a basin within the quadran ...

, 2015) * ''Live In Concert'' with Julia Toaspern (

, 2019)

As sideman/guest

* 1995 ''Stage by Stage'',

Iain MacKintosh Iain MacKintosh (20 July 1932 – 28 August 2006, Glasgow, Scotland) was a Scottish singer and songwriter. Early life MacKintosh' father was from the Outer Hebrides, a watchmaker and goldsmith who owned a pawnshop in Glasgow; his mother came ...

* 1995 ''This Feeling Inside'', Mairi MacInnes * 1996 ''Are You Willing?'', Tabache * 1996 ''Inchcolm'', William Jackson * 1996 ''No Gods'', Brian McNeill * 1996 ''Rod Paterson Sings Burns'', Rod Paterson * 1996 ''Scenes of Scotland'',

Isla St Clair Isla St Clair (born 2 May 1952 as Isabella Margaret Dyce) is a Scotland, Scottish singer. Life Isla St Clair was born in Grangemouth, central Scotland, in 1952; her mother was Zetta Sinclair. Her family came from northeast Scotland and it was h ...

* 1997 ''Easter Snow: Irish Traditional Flute Music'', Seamus Tansey * 1998 ''Burns: Songs Vol. 4'' * 1998 ''Celtic Experience'', William Jackson * 1998 ''Heepirumbo'',

Eilidh Shaw Eilidh Shaw is a Scottish fiddle player and singer. She has performed with The Poozies, Harem Scarem and recorded a solo album, ''Heepirumbo'', in 1997. Her brother Donald Shaw was a founding member of Capercaillie. She and The Poozies perform ...

* 1998 ''Hourglass'',

Kate Rusby Kate Anna Rusby (born 4 December 1973) is an English English folk music, folk singer-songwriter from Penistone, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Sometimes called the "Barnsley Nightingale", she has headlined various British folk festivals, an ...

* 1998 ''Robert Burns: The Complete Songs, Vol. 5'' * 1999 ''Celtic Moods'' Gardyne Chamber Ensemble * 1999 ''Last Orders'',

Liz Doherty Liz Doherty is an Irish fiddler based in County Donegal who also recorded and toured with both '' Nomos'' and '' The Bumblebees'' as well as alone. Biography Liz Doherty was born in Buncrana, County Donegal, Ireland in 1970, the oldest daughte ...

* 1999 ''Spirit of Ireland'', Gardyne Chamber Ensemble Guitar * 1999 ''Spirit of Scotland'', Gardyne Chamber Ensemble Guitar * 2000 ''Alloway Tales'', Ian Bruce * 2000 ''Auld Lang Syne: A Fine Selection of Popular Robert Burns Songs'' * 2000 ''Bold'',

* 2000 ''Connected'', Gibb Todd * 2000 ''Fine Flowers & Foolish Glances'',

Mick West Mick West is a British science writer, scientific skepticism, skeptical investigator, and retired video game programmer. He is the creator of the websites ''Contrail Science'' and ''Metabunk'', and he investigates and debunks pseudoscientific cla ...

* 2000 ''Green Yarrow'', Aileen Carr * 2000 ''Northern Lights Live from the Lemon Tree'' * 2000 ''Robert Burns: The Complete Songs, Vol. 8'' * 2000 ''Shore Street'', Billy Ross * 2000 ''Tryst'',

Iain MacInnes Iain MacInnes is a Scottish folk musician, currently working as the producer of the BBC Radio Scotland bagpipe music program ''Pipeline''. He was formerly presenter of that program, before taking a one-year sabbatical in 2002 to write a book on ...

* 2001 ''Notes from a Hebridean Island'', William Jackson * 2001 ''Orosay'', Mairi MacInnes * 2001 ''The Islay Ball'', Gary West * 2004 ''Live: The Art of the Steel String Guitar'', Men of Steel * 2005 ''Live in Genova'' VD

* 2006 ''Reunion'',

Daniel Lapp Daniel Edward Lapp is a Canadian folk musician based in Victoria, British Columbia and Pender Island. * 2007 ''Rosewood Castle'', Robin Bullock * 2009 ''Hymns and Hers'',

Oliver Schroer Oliver Schroer (June 18, 1956 – July 3, 2008) was a Canadian fiddler, composer, and music producer. Early life Oliver Schroer grew up in Vandeleur, Ontario, a small farming community near Markdale in rural Grey County. He attended Grey Highl ...

* 2009 ''Robert Burns: The Complete Songs, Vol. 4'' * 2009 ''Without Words'', Doug Cox * 2010 ''The Wind That Shakes the Barley'',

Loreena McKennitt Loreena Isobel Irene McKennitt, (born February 17, 1957) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who writes, records, and performs world music with Celtic and Middle Eastern influences. McKennitt is known for her ...

* 2011 ''Live at the Teatro della Corte: The First 10 Years'', Beppe Gambetta * 2013 ''Everything is Moving'', Laura Smith *2017 ''Clyde's Water'', Fiona Ross

References

External links

Tomy McManus official website

''Rambles'', October 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:McManus, Tony 1965 births Living people Scottish male guitarists Fingerstyle guitarists Scottish emigrants to Canada Musicians from Paisley, Renfrewshire Canadian Folk Music Award winners Canadian folk guitarists