That momentum can be seen in the positive energy Emmanuel radiates during his live performances, playing a road-worn guitar sometimes like a piano, sometimes like a drum kit and sometimes as simple accompaniment to his singing. (The first time I listened to Live One, I would have guessed I was listening to an orchestra rather than one man playing a six-string guitar in a live performance.) But Emmanuel has said that he never uses a set list and always tries to interact with the audience.
“Look, I’m a people person. I love people so much. And I could care less if the room is full of musicians … As long as people come along who need a fix … who need to get taken away from their life experience and go into another realm where there’s joy and where there’s peace and surprise and happiness. And that’s where I take people when I play,” he says.
“People say to me, ‘What do you do for a living?’ And I say, ‘I’m in the happiness business. I play music and people get happy,’” he says.
But Emmanuel admits that his fame and accomplishments are the product of sacrifice.
“In all honesty, my life is a dilemma,” he says. “I live within a dilemma at all times. I love my children very much and I wish I could be with them, but I’m called to play the guitar … I love being [at] my home in America. But I can’t be there often because I’m called to play the guitar.”
“But let me tell you, everything comes with a price,” he says. “The amount of hard work that I’ve put in to get somewhere in this life and to honor my gift, it comes at such a personal price. Two marriages ended because I wasn’t there. [There has been] a lot of emotional upheaval in my life. But it formed a lot of great music, you know. Sometimes you feel like you just want to scream and stop and say, ‘No more. I’m finished.’ But then you go out and have a show and it changes people’s lives. And you go, ‘Goddamnit, I got to keep doing this.’”
Emmanuel’s philosophy about his art is surprisingly simple.
“I’m so crystal clear on this: It’s my job to do the best I can — nothing more, nothing less — just go out and do it and have a great time … and just stay out of the way of God’s work. ‘Let him do the work, you just play the best you can,’” he says.
Amen. Preach, brother.
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