| Tony McManus | |
| Birth Date: | 1965 |
| Birth Place: | Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland |
| Genre: | Celtic, folk, bluegrass, classical |
| Occupation: | Musician |
| Instrument: | Guitar |
| Label: | Greentrax, Culburnie, Compass, Borealis |
Tony McManus (born 1965) is a guitarist from Paisley, Scotland, who plays finger-style acoustic guitar arrangements of tunes from Celtic music, classical music, and other genres. He emigrated from Scotland to Canada in 2003.[1]
In 1988, McManus substituted forthe guitarist Soig Siberil in the supergroup Celtic Fiddle Festival, which consisted of the fiddlers Johnny Cunningham, Kevin Burke and Christian Lemaitre. He has worked as an accompanist for Catriona MacDonald and for the singer, guitarist and fiddler Brian McNeill. His album, Return to Kintail, was a duet with the Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser.[2]
In addition to traditional Celtic music, McManus plays classical music and other genres. He performed a piece by Erik Satie for the soundtrack of a movie by Neil Jordan. The mandolin player Mike Marshall prodded him to learn Bach's E Major Prelude. He performed a chaconne by J.S. Bach at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City with the jazz fusion guitarist John McLaughlin.
He released his first album, Tony McManus, in 1996 on Greentrax Recordings. He recorded his second album, Pourquoi Quebec?, in Quebec, 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, "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."[3] 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."[4]
The album includes a version of Charles Mingus' Goodbye Porkpie Hat.[3] He recorded an album with the bass guitarist Alain Genty, titled Singing Sands.[5]
In 2017, McManus was named one of "50 Transcendent Acoustic Guitarists" in Guitar Player magazine.[6]
In 2011, PRS Guitars created a McManus signature model guitar, a distinction he shares with the jazz guitarist Al Di Meola, the folk guitarist Martin Simpson and the rock guitarists Carlos Santana, John Mayer, Mark Lettieri, Ted Nugent and Orianthi Panagaris. The custom model, designed by Paul Reed Smith, went into development after McManus visited the bluegrass musician Ricky Skaggs in Nashville, Tennessee, while on tour in America.[7]