Tony McManus & Paul Asbell

Hailed by John Renbourn as “the best Celtic guitarist in the world,” Tony McManus has also been listed as one of the 50 transcendent guitarists of all time by Guitar Player magazine. Tony McManus has both extended and transcended the parameters of contemporary Celtic music. Ranked by peers and predecessors alike alongside the guitar world’s all-time greats, his fiendishly dexterous, dazzlingly original playing draws on traditions from the entire Celtic world, along with still further-ranging flavors such as jazz and eastern European music. Long applauded for his uncanny ability to transpose the delicate, complex ornamentation characteristic of traditional bagpipe or fiddle tunes – even the phrasing of a Gaelic song – onto his own six strings, McManus is increasingly acknowledged as a pioneering figure in bridging the realms of Celtic music and other guitar genres.

Paul Asbell has earned an underground reputation as a true “musician’s musician.” From his early years, playing blues on Chicago’s South Side, to his present multi-faceted career based out of northern Vermont, Asbell has been “an inventive and always-interesting electric guitarist” and “a major league acoustic player who offers a seamless 20th century Americana blend of folk, blues, early jazz and pop music” (Sing Out! magazine). He has played and recorded with Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’Wolf, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Otis Rush, Magic Sam, Earl Hooker, Lightnin’ Slim, Paul Butterfield, Sam Lay, Pops Staples, Donny Hathaway, and numerous others while in his hometown of Chicago.

Stream this show live at caffelena.tv. Enjoy one week of access with your live stream ticket.