Beppe Gambetta

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BEPPE GAMBETTA is a virtuosic guitar player and an emotional singer who manages to effortlessly bridge bluegrass, Eastern European folk music, Celtic rhythms and the music of his native Italy. He is a remarkable musician who has almost singlehandedly popularized flatpicking throughout Europe, while forging his own unique approach to the guitar along the way.

Mr. Gambetta  is touring to support his latest release, and this is the first Canadian date on the tour. After his amazing duet album with Tony McManus, Beppe returns with this brilliant new recording, Short Stories, on Canada's Borealis Records. In discussing the making of the CD, Beppe says, “I found myself singing in four different languages, composing new melodies or cross-picking licks, and developing an imaginary global picking path that moves from Giuseppe Verdi to Doc Watson.” As Borealis put it, "Regardless of whether it’s his virtuoso guitar playing or his songs in English, Italian or German, Borealis is proud to be working with Beppe – a true international musical treasure."

Beppe has become one of Europe's foremost guitarists in American idioms. When he was eleven, he heard a guitar strummed by some amateur singers on a train and immediately wanted to devote his life to that beautiful sound. He began by playing in a classical orchestra for plectrum instruments, and when he heard the music of Doc Watson on an LP that a friend brought to Genoa, he decided that flatpicking was the most beautiful way of playing the acoustic guitar. He moved to American music when he founded the Italian bluegrass band Red Wine. Gambetta began to concentrate on a solo career in 1988. He has collaborated with Tony Trischka on Alone Together, and in 2003, he teamed up with some of the world's best (Tony McManus, Don Ross and Dan Crary) to record and tour as Men Of Steel. After eleven CDs, DVDs, teaching books and collaborations with many other top-flight musicians, Gambetta is increasingly known as one of the true live master innovators of the acoustic guitar.

While Beppe still lives in his native Genova, he travels to North America at least three times each year. His reputation in the U.S. and Canada is reinforced by his participation in prestigious festivals like the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas, Merlefest in North Carolina, the Four Corners Festival in Colorado and Canadian Folk Festivals in Winnipeg and Edmonton, as well as events like the radio shows “All Things Considered” and “E-Town”. Beppe has performed in prestigious rooms like the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In his career he has performed with some great heroes of the folk scene like David Grisman, Gene Parsons, Doc Watson and Norman Blake.

In a world dominated by the trends and logic of the market Gambetta's playing and singing stand out for their intimate emotions, communication, sobriety and humour. His is an inspired music that modestly avoids relying solely on his high level of technical excellence, but also reveals the innermost feelings of a brilliant, playful mind that is always exploring and innovating while staying firmly routed in tradition.

He's an almost unnaturally gifted flatpicker and fingerstylist, and he's personable to a fault - a charmer who has even the most reticent audience in the palm of his hand in short order. — Taylor Guitars

"Few players on the planet could so successfully fuse an unwavering allegiance to tradition with impatient, wide-eyed vision, tongue-in-cheek humour with solemn devotion, and folksy song styles with progressive improvisation, as Gambetta has done on Slade Stomp... for those who appreciate a sense of adventure in even the most antiquated music. — John D'Agostino

LIZ STRINGER was playing piano before she could talk. The die was cast young. Some argue that she still communicates better with music than with conversation. She grew up in Melbourne, Australia, the youngest of three kids. Her Dad was a music teacher, her Mum a literature and history teacher. The house reverberated with music of some kind constantly. There were instruments and books on every surface. And the backyard was littered with Aussie rules footies, cricket bats and tennis racquets. Ball sports and art. It was a good way to grow up.

She’s released four albums and is about to release her 5th studio record, recorded in Portland, Oregon. She wanted adventure again. She needed it. And she also fell in love. With Canada. So she started to plant roots and now she has a record deal and a bunch of beautiful friends there. She’s toured around Australia perpetually for years. She’s played every major festival. She’s revered by her musical peers for her inherent musical talent and low tolerance for bullshit. She neither has, nor wants, industry attention and validation. She’s a musician. It’s pretty simple, really.