Whargarbl TV has had the greatest honor of attending a special concert at the Napa Valley Opera House in the beautiful city of Napa, Ca on January 21, 2011. The venue, filled with locals and travelers, all of whom are fans, were far from disappointed as to what they heard. From foreign love songs to fast drumming and strumming to acoustic rock riffs, these three “Masters” did not fail to astonish and please their audience as they played a two-hour show with no intermission. AcousticFan, as well as myself, had the chance to attend this concert and was able to listen to something amazing. Read on for a team review.

Welcome three of the most truly gifted guitar players, Peppino D’Agostino, Andy McKee, and Eric Johnson (performing in that order). The tour, dubbed the “Guitar Masters”, showcases these three and their talents. Their amazing acoustical sounds filled the atmosphere with liveliness and awe.

Peppino, originally from Torino, Italy, was a self-taught musician who was composing and recording throughout Italy by the age of 18. In the early 80′s, he immigrated to the United States to pursue his career as a musician. Starting out as a street performer in Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, he later graduated to restaurants. He then began performing in clubs and concerts after a friend introduced him to a booking agent. The SF Chronicle dubbed D’Agostino, “a poet”.

Andy, who hails from Topeka, Kansas, is an American finger-style guitarist who gained international attention after placing as one of the top finalist in the prestigious National Fingerstyle Guitar Championships in Windfield, Kansas. His performance of his signature song, Drifting, was uploaded to YouTube and to this date, has received over 36 million views. His fame grew bigger as more of his videos surfaced on YouTube with his eccentric style of guitar playing. Because of his online media success, album and ticket sales, Andy performs internationally with over 300 shows per year.

Eric is an American guitarist and recording artist from Austin, Texas. He is a gifted songwriter, pianist, vocalist and a dynamic live performer. Though best known for his instrumental rock format, Eric incorporates country and new western, New Age, jazz and gospel into his music. Dubbed by Guitar Player magazine as “one of the most respected guitarist on the planet”, his style and technical proficiency on the guitar has been praised by such guitarist like, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Billy Gibbons, and B. B. King.

AcousticFan-
What can I say about the guitar masters concert? There was not one moment during the show that anyone could not enjoy. Peppino D’Agostino took the stage first and gave an amazing performance. I for one am new to his music but enjoyed hearing his pieces like Grand Canyon, Nine White Kites, and Jump Rope. Peppino’s musical ability has a wide variety of styles and that includes: Brazilian music, Irish music, country, blues, ragtime, and classical to name a few. If you haven’t had the chance to listen to Peppino D’Agostino’s music, I highly recommend that you do.

Shifty-
As AcousticFan mention above, I too, am new to the musical style of Peppino D’Agostino. The pieces he played were incredible. There was an Italian piece he played which is called Estate. Although the song was sung in Italian, it was still beautifully played.

AcousticFan-
Andy McKee came up next and gave an incredible performance as well. The majority of his song selections came from previous albums but also played a few songs from his latest album, Joyland. There was a moment during the show that really impressed the audience. When Andy brought out his custom made harp guitar to play Away, the audience was in complete awe. I believe a majority of crowd had never seen such a thing. A harp guitar is a regular guitar with additional six bass strings. Andy’s song Away, was a perfect song selection and was worth hearing live. I also enjoyed hearing his other songs like Drifting, Rylynn, and Art Of Motion.

Shifty-
Andy was the one I came to see when I first heard he was performing. I knew that he would be performing with two others but I didn’t know who they were, so I assumed Andy would be headlining. Boy, was I wrong. It was great to see Andy performing his songs live. When I first heard his music, I assumed it was recorded at different times and then meshed together. But after hearing Blue Liquid and Away played live, I was left speechless. How quickly his hands moved on not just the strings, but the whole guitar itself was a sight to see. Including the harp guitar mentioned above.

AcousticFan-
Finally, the biggest guitar master of them all, Eric Johnson came on. He is most known for his electric guitar rock styles but for this particular tour, he played only acoustic guitar. Eric Johnson was musically all over the place. He played some rock songs along with some ballads. The part of the show I liked the most was when he switched to the piano to play covers of his favorite songs. Also, the guitar piece that stuck out most to me was his “Tribute To Jerry Reed“. But of course everything that Eric Johnson played was amazing. To close out the show, the three came out on stage together and performed different arrangements of their previous/current pieces. The piece that stuck out most to me was their arrangement of Andy McKee’s Blue Liquid. Eric Johnson and Peppino D’gostino really improved Blue Liquid and took it to a whole new level. The Guitar Masters at the Napa Valley Opera House was an evening full of inspiration and an incredible amount talent. It was a show that I will never forget.

Shifty-
This concert was not only amazing, but breathtaking as well. Every performer and every song that was played was truly an inspiration. Again, I will admit, I had no idea as to who Peppino or Eric was (shame, I know), but after listening to their music and meeting them after the show, it only interested me more to find out who these two players were. Both their guitar and vocal skills left me in awe and only made me want to further my skills in my own guitar playing as I’m sure AcousticFan would agree as well. If you want to know about any of these three artist, visit their websites. All of their albums are available for purchase through their site or on iTunes.
*Image of P. D’Agostino owned by farm6 on flickr
*Image of A. McKee owned by guitarplayer.com
*Image of E. Johnson owned by the guitarbuzz.com

Sources:
http://www.peppinodagostino.com/
http://www.andymckee.com/
http://www.ericjohnson.com/
www.YouTube.com