Guitar Sessions: Could you tell me about your musical home life and early studies in Italy? Did you attend a music conservatory as is traditional in Europe? How were you first exposed to bluegrass music and the flatpicking technique?

Beppe Gambetta: I had a "Viennese" Grandma who died a few years ago at 102 years of age; she was really talented but her classical piano career was curtailed by events related to the First World War. Like many Italians, my parents are great supporters and fans of classical music, but not musicians.

When I was eleven, I heard a guitar strummed by some amateur singers on a train and I immediately wanted to devote my life to that beautiful sound. I would never have imagined that one day I would perform with Doc Watson! I didn't attend the conservatory, but I played for many years in a children's plectrum orchestra.

I was lucky to hear the music of Doc Watson on just one LP that a friend brought to my home town of Genoa, Italy. In that period of my life, flatpicking seemed to me the most beautiful way of playing the acoustic guitar I had ever heard. It was natural for me to learn and teach it.

In 1989, even though I didn't speak any English, I decided to record the album Dialogs with portable digital equipment while I was on the road in the US. I met and recorded with many great American masters and the energy of these musical encounters was so strong that even now, after so many years, Dialogs is still published in China.

I imagine you have an extensive music library. Does it include any Mel Bay books?

Yes, I have many books published by Mel Bay. Mel Bay Publications has always been a great resource for me. I remember the first Mel Bay book that I was able to buy was the Anthology of Merle Travis compositions. I'm really happy about how Mel Bay is so well distributed in Europe. I'm starting to find my new Mel Bay DVD Live in Genova in many music stores.

Which artists inspired you in the beginning, and who do you listen to now? Which of your musical heroes were you able to meet and perform with?

As I mentioned, Doc Watson has been my hero and my inspiration from the start. I listen to a lot of acoustic music from the whole world, with particular attention to vintage recordings. I performed with Doc Watson a couple of times and also with Bela Fleck, David Grisman, Mike Marshall, Norman Blake and many others.

Do you recommend transcribing as a musical exercise? How extensive is your library of transcriptions? What is your opinion of tablature vs. standard notation? Of personal interest, can you instantly identify an alternate tuning by listening to a recording?

Transcribing and learning precisely the music of the masters is a fantastic exercise and this is what I did when I started to learn flatpicking. The library of transcriptions that I did myself over many years is probably one of the most comprehensive anywhere because of my geographic distance from the American scene. After taking this step, it is really important to develop your own personality and create some distance from note for note reproduction.

As a teacher, I always recommend that my students read both tablature and standard notation. Tablature is really useful for working with open tunings. I play a lot of alternate tunings and I can recognize them pretty well.

You've been an ambassador for the flatpicked guitar for a long time. How do you manage to maintain the energy for travel, ongoing practice, recording, teaching, and performing? With so much travel, how do you get any writing done?

I have to use time to my best advantage. For example, I'm responding to this interview while driving on the German Autobahn with the help of my wife Federica who is typing on her laptop. I'm on the road almost 280 days a year and I'm really careful about what I eat and how many hours I sleep. Of course, it's not always easy to find time to practice the guitar; sometimes the backstage of a venue is the only place where I can compose and write new compositions!

The fantastic opportunities of a life on the road include the possibilities of meeting, playing and recording with other great musicians - as happened when I visited David Grisman for a good glass of wine; immediately I was invited to record a tune on his then brand-new project, Tone Poems.

You have concertized extensively in Europe and North America. Have you played in Asia or Japan? If so, how was your music received?

I've never performed in Asia, but I've toured in Europe, North America and Australia where my music was well received by every kind of audience. At my concerts I've met Bluegrass fans, acoustic guitar freaks, music enthusiasts and Italian emigrants- a great mixture!

How much time do you spend touring in the US each year? Americans are not known for their willingness to learn foreign languages but, out of necessity, you yourself have become something of a polyglot. How many languages do you speak or sing?

I'm usually tour four months a year in the US. I speak English, German and of course, Italian. I sometimes sing in different Italian dialects, which seem to be more "poetic" for some traditional musical themes.

How did the Night in Genova DVD originate? How were you able to gather such an eclectic assemblage of performers for one gala concert?

In my home town Genova I have a huge following of people that are interested in my music and in my musical journeys. For the past six years in a 1000-seat theater in Genova, I've assembled acoustic musicians that I've met in my world travels and with whom I have a great musical rapport. Every year we build a show that not only features the single guitar player, but includes surprises with a lot of interactions that are not improvised, but well rehearsed. The show also has a great stage setting, theatrical lighting and a thematic direction. I'm delighted that the theatre sells out one week in advance for two nights in a row!

The Mel Bay DVD Live in Genova presents highlights of two shows with the addition of introductions from various points of interest in Genova's Old Town; it also includes a cartoon portrayal of my composition "On the Road with Mama".

I might ask the same about your album Blu di Genova. It's a brillant concept album. Would you explain a bit about the origin of the CD title?

I had great fun in inventing the concept for the album and in choosing the places to work and the participants. In my case, I had been exposed to so much beauty generated by the American "melting pot" of cultures at the time of the great European emigrations that I wanted to recreate in my way this "migration" vibe in this new CD production.

I decided to have the CD revolve around this theme and moved the recording process back and forth on both sides of the Atlantic to capture in the present a hint of what is left of the old creative energy generated by this diversity. It was difficult to find the right title for this project, but finally by exploring all the possible words to add to the word "blu", we stumbled into "Blu di Genova", the name of a fabric invented and produced several centuries ago in my hometown that, after a long evolution through France (Bleu de Genes) and crossing to the other side of the ocean, originated the word "blue jeans".

Nothing could be a better symbol of the positive and evolving relationship between the Old and the New World, but still a lot of people think I'm joking when I tell this story. On tour, I may have to bring some pictures from my hometown's museum to prove it's true!

I love your vocal renditions of Norman Blake's "Church Street Blues" and "A Cimma" (Fabrizio De André/Ivano Fossati) even though I don't speak Italian. You've got Glen Moore on bass, your longtime associate Dan Crary from Men of Steel, Gene Parsons on banjo and harmony vocals, Mario Acari on English horn, your son Fillippo on diatonic accordion, Martino Coppo on mandolin, and Marco Fadda on percussion. How were you able to gather so many stellar performers for a single project?

I had already collaborated with the musicians I chose to perform on the Blu di Genova CD, and I knew they would perfectly fit in my cross-cultural concept. I was also able to convince Gene Parsons to sing in Genoese dialect!

[In his A Night in Genova DVD performance, Parsons is ostensibly dressed like a cowboy, yet musically and linguistically, he blends in perfectly! -the editor ]

I noticed that the album was recorded and mixed in Oregon with additional recording and mastering in Italy. Was that a logistical nightmare or is the interface of technology so seamless that there were no production mishaps?

From the perspective of sound quality, I was fascinated with the deep acoustic response from the old analog technique and particularly with the results Billy Oskay was achieving in his "Big Red Studio" in Portland, Oregon using vintage Neumann microphones restored by Klaus Heine. I did a lot of travelling with three giant reels of 24-track tape in my bag that seemed to cause alarm among entire crews of airport security people; but once I heard the musical results I thought it was worth all the hassle.

So, if you are just starting your project and don't know how to spend some extra money and complicate your life, you should follow my example: this is a perfect windmill to aim for, with very good artistic rewards.

How do you mic your guitar?

I used two vintage Neumann microphones pointed at the body and the fretboard of my guitar; the main guitar I used was my Taylor K14 CE, a beautiful instrument in Koa wood with versatile tone and perfectly balanced sound.

The CD was recorded in a few sessions, deciding after careful listening what to add and what to change, with many of the guest artists overdubbing their parts separately due to the distance of the locations.

How has Blu di Genova been received worldwide?

The CD has been received really well. The great joy is to hear from many people that after listening to it they cannot take it out of their CD players for a long time! In my home town I was honored as "Genovese of the Year 2002"; the year before that, the award was given to an astronaut!

I first heard you play at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. How long have you been associated with that festival? Did you ever participate in the flatpicking competition there?

I've played at the Walnut Valley Festival for eleven years, since 1992. I never entered the contest because from the beginning I've been invited as a "featured performer" and as a performer you cannot enter the contest.

Tell me about your flatpicking camp in Eastern Europe. Do you still teach or act as a musical mentor when you're at home in Genoa? What kinds of musical values do you try to impart to your students?

I will present the "14th Beppe Gambetta International Summer Workshop for Acoustic Guitar" August 7-14, 2006. I think my camp is one of the oldest guitar camps in Europe. It is held in Ambroz pod Krvavcem (Slovenia) at an altitude of approximately 1080 m., about 25 km north of Ljubljana which has an international airport; the camp is a 4-hour drive from Vienna or Venice. It offers a wonderful view of the Alps, the Karawanks, and the cities of Kanji and Ljubljana. The number of participants is limited to 30, divided into three groups. Usually the camp is sold out around June as participants come from all over Europe and the U.S.

In my hometown I have no time to teach because I'm always on the road, but I love to teach at camps and I used to be one of the flatpicking teachers at the Steve Kaufman Camp in Maryville, TN. Oct. 20-23, 2006 I've been invited for the first time to teach at the Jorma Kaukonen "Fur Peace Ranch" in Pomeroy, Ohio.

How do you hold the pick- with two fingers or with three?

I hold the pick with three fingers like my colleague Dan Crary and Pat Metheny.

Do you have any new books, albums or other products on the horizon?

I'm in the process of recording a new CD with a new concept and I hope it will be ready in the spring of 2006. Mel Bay is currently publishing my book of transcriptions from the "Blu di Genova" CD with a street date late in 2006.

I'm also planning to publish an instructional book for flatpicking ensembles with Mel Bay, and another on the topic of cross-picking.

Do you have any parting words of advice to the young flatpicker who aspires to a career in music?

This question is extremely hard to answer in a few words, but as you are putting me on the spot I would say, "Try to be different."

Thank you, Beppe!

Photos by Stefano Goldberg.

You can learn more about Beppe Gambetta and his music by visiting his website:
http://www.beppegambetta.com/