Tony Furtado
InsideOut Gallery
Friday, August 29, 8pm

I first ran into Tony Furtado's music on the Rounder Banjo Extravagnaza CD (highly recommended), where he shared the stage with Tony Trishka and Tom Adams. Furtado was then one of the young banjo players who was continuing the sorts of banjo innovations begun by the likes of Bill Keith and Bela Fleck.

As a young banjo player, Furtado found himself playing the genre of music most represented by the instrument - bluegrass. But all along, he was listening to Tom Petty and Jackson Brown, he was watching MTV, and he was delving into his parents collection of classic rock records.

Looking back, he says: “I think I was kind of doomed to be a multi-genre player from the start.”  Furtado's 1987 win at the National Banjo Competition (a feat he would repeat in 1991) led to a touring sideman stint with bluegrass musician Laurie Lewis (Laurie Lewis and Grant Street) and the launch of his professional career.

But, bluegrass was only one style of music that interested Mr. Furtado. He has spent his decades in the music business fusing bluegrass, country, rock, blues, jazz, and folk (both American and European) on his expanding instrument arsenal of banjo, guitar, slide guitar and voice.

From Furtado's website: "From the very first moments of "Used," which opens Tony Furtado's new album, Thirteen (coming Jan. 23 on Funzalo Records), it's clear that the prodigious instrumentalist turned singer/songwriter is a man on a mission. This bracing rocker, with its galloping ZZ Top groove and restless Tom Petty vibe, establishes the album's interlocked themes of "good luck/bad luck/no luck" (as Furtado puts it) on both the personal and political levels, while a phalanx of fretted instruments provides a thrillingly visceral reminder of Furtado's prowess as an ax wielder of the first order."

So imagine Bill Keith meets Ry Cooder meets MTV. If your mind stretches that far. Or just head on down to the InsideOut Gallery and let Tony stretch it for you.