All time finger-style guitarist to visit Carmel.

A age 6, Australian-born Tommy Emmanuel was playing rhythm guitar in his family’s band.

“When I was on stage people lit up,” Emmanuel recalls. “I didn’t know what it was, but it made me show off and do all the things that cocky little kids do at 6, 7, 8 years old. Music was the worst drug I ever had, and I’m still hooked on it.”

He went on to play for one of the country’s best-known acts at the time, Dragon. A couple of decades of session work and touring ensued, culminating with a Tina Turner collaboration in 1987. In 1988, he began his solo career with Up From Down Under. But it was not until the critically acclaimed The Journey (1993) that he began to cement his reputation as one of the finest finger-style guitar players ever.

As a young man, Emmanuel had written his guitar hero Chet Atkins in Nashville. Atkins replied with words of encouragement and an invitation to visit. Many years later, in 1997, the two finally met and the album The Day Finger Pickers Took Over The World resulted.

Atkins created a fanciful designation called CGP (Certified Guitar Player) to describe an artist whom he felt personified the ultimate in skill. He bestowed that title on thumbpicker Paul Yandell; finger-style player John Knowles; triple Grammy Award-winner Steve Wariner; country singer/actor Jerry Reed; and yes, Tommy Emmanuel.

Emmanuel applies his gift to a diverse number of genres, including rock, blues, jazz, classical, Beatles and even show tunes. His rendition of Mason Williams’ “Classical Gas” is beyond electrifying with its up-tempo blitzkrieg dexterity, and his arrangement of the classic “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” brings many to tears, with chime-like harmonic notes from all over the neck of the guitar.

Rock legend Todd Rundgren once called Emmanuel “a true innovator of the instrument.” Guitar wizard Joe Satriani says he’s “the best acoustic guitar player in the world.”

The unassuming Emmanuel says, “It’s all about the feeling of the music. It has to make me feel something. I’m still playing for myself, because I figure if I please me, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna’ please you.”

Emmanuel plays 200-plus dates a year, and is currently out in support of his latest effort, It’s Never Too Late.

“When I play, I feel like I’m plugged into something,” he explains. “I don’t know what it is, and I don’t really want to know. I just want to know that it’s there.”

New Zealand singer-songwriter Jackie Bristow opens.

TOMMY EMMANUEL 8pm Friday, Jan. 15. Sunset Center. San Carlos Street at Ninth, Carmel. $36, $47. 620-2048, www.sunsetcenter.org