Maton Nashville - On the road with Tommy Emmanuel

October 07, 2021

Supporting the annual C.A.A.S. Convention (Chet Atkins Appreciation Society) since our inception, we have had the pleasure of becoming personal friends with many renowned players who attend each year, including the one and only Tommy Emmanuel. He has visited our shop many times over the years, and we have become close friends.

In May of 2018 Tommy was playing a sold-out show at the famous Ryman Auditorium here in Nashville. His tour manager called to ask if we could have a display of Maton guitars in the lobby, a personal request from Tommy. We were pleased to accommodate, and at some point in the evening had guests standing 3 deep asking about Maton guitars! What fun!!

In the Fall, we had already decided it would be great if we could follow Tommy around the country on some of his tours with Maton guitars for display. We shared the idea with our friends in Australia, and they designed the artwork for a vehicle wrap for a new Nissan NV-200 van.

We purchased the van in November and the wrap was installed by Christmas. Franklin, Tennessee (a suburb of Nashville) is home to Nissan national headquarters. We wanted to create a video that featured the van, and thought it would ideal to use their headquarters for a backdrop. One of their senior V.P.'s being a customer of ours, we asked a favor.

They were more than accommodating, inviting us to their underground studio for a 4 hour shoot to create a 60 second video. We couldn't have been more pleased with their professional efforts.

By January, we had a tour schedule in the works, with our first show at the City Winery in Manhattan, with John Knowles and Tommy on their 'Heart Songs Tour'. There was snow on the ground from Kentucky to New York, but that didn't deter our journey. I made one wrong turn near the Holland Tunnel, but recovered in ample time for the show that evening.

We enjoyed a premium parking place at most events that welcomed guests to the show. Concert goers enjoyed taking selfie's with the Maton Nashville van, too.

The highlight of the year was a 4-day workshop with some amazing performers in Vail, Colorado, though the van wouldn't hold enough gear for the entire event. So alas we flew to that show and had an entire line of Maton Guitars on display.

P.S. Peter Frampton was in attendance at the Ryman show in 2018, and we believe he got to play Tommy's guitar backstage that evening. Later that summer, he ordered a Maton for his upcoming Farewell Tour. When he got out on the road the following Spring, he ordered two more.

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