Tommy Emmanuel Applauds Richard Smith’s “The Entertainer” Performance

During a midsummer event in Nashville, English fingerstyle guitarist Richard Smith performed Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer in a casual, unassuming setting, displaying remarkable technical skill and musicality.

Smith’s attire—shorts and a golf shirt—contrasted with the technical expertise he demonstrated on stage. His rendition of The Entertainer honored the original ragtime composition while introducing innovative guitar arrangements that transformed the piano’s melodic and harmonic interplay.

The performance was notable for both technical excellence and the mutual respect between Smith and Tommy Emmanuel. Emmanuel, widely regarded as the best acoustic guitarist in the world, stood and applauded Smith’s performance, underscoring the significance of their collaborative moment.

The recording of this performance went viral on YouTube, accumulating over 13 million views and becoming a defining moment in Smith’s career. The clip, from a July 2009 live session in Nashville, offers authentic context for this memorable musical exchange.

The duet version of The Entertainer features a carefully crafted arrangement that emphasizes rhythmic synchronization and melodic dialogue between two acoustic guitars. Smith and Emmanuel’s interpretation highlights the ragtime characteristics, distributing melody, bass, and rhythm effectively across their instruments to produce a layered and dynamic sound.

Watch the performance

The acoustic guitar’s versatility allows for carrying melody while also providing bass and harmony. In this duet, Smith and Emmanuel fully utilize these capabilities, weaving parts between each other to maintain the piece’s distinctive ragtime feel.

Adapting Joplin’s piano work to guitar required careful consideration of arrangement. The musicians balanced melody prominence with rhythm and bass support, acknowledging the guitar’s different sound production and sustain compared to piano keys.

Richard Smith’s fingerstyle technique is especially effective for this piece, enabling a single hand to pluck different strings separately for bass, melody, and rhythmic emphasis. The performance showcases his deep command of both the music and the guitar.

Tommy Emmanuel’s involvement adds a rich dimension to the duet. As a globally renowned guitarist, his interaction with Smith enhances the dynamic, emphasizing subtle rhythmic signals and melodic interplay that elevate the listening experience.

The standing ovation Emmanuel gave Smith is more than a simple gesture; it reflects acknowledgment of peer achievement and the importance of the moment in the acoustic guitar community.

This performance is part of a broader set of works where Richard Smith reinterprets ragtime pieces through fingerstyle guitar. His ability to handle multiple musical lines at once solidifies his role in modern fingerstyle guitar music.

The viral video helped spread the appeal of fingerstyle guitar to a wider audience, inspiring guitar fans and setting new benchmarks for complex solo adaptations of classic piano rags.

These collaborative sessions at Nashville’s music events capture the essence of community and shared creativity, with Smith and Emmanuel’s version standing out among many acoustic guitar performances.

The casual setting allowed the focus to remain on pure guitar playing without distraction, where skill and feeling conveyed the full spirit of The Entertainer, turning a familiar tune into an energetic and innovative guitar conversation.

Richard Smith’s career-defining moment here remains a cornerstone for fingerstyle guitarists globally, highlighting the acoustic guitar’s ability to deliver intricate, ensemble-like performances in both solo and duet settings.

Two more performances to explore

The Entertainer

Richard Smith’s solo performance showcases his fingerstyle guitar mastery through the full rendition of Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer, underscoring his technical prowess and interpretive approach in a live context.

C Jam Blues – Tommy Emmanuel, Richard Smith, Pat Bergeson, Hot Club of Nashville, CAAS 2024

Tommy Emmanuel and Richard Smith collaborate with other musicians in a modern concert, illustrating their complementary styles and enduring partnership through a dynamic and layered performance.