Tony Furtado

Tony Furtado works as an American singer, songwriter, and highly skilled multi-instrumentalist who lives in Portland, Oregon. Studios regularly call on him for session work. Banjo, cello-banjo, slide guitar, and baritone ukulele serve as his chief instruments. His singing and instrumental approach remain rooted in American musical traditions, weaving together folk, blues, country, bluegrass, rock, jazz, and everything between those styles. He has appeared on stages across the globe and remains a frequent presence at roots music festivals. Sculpture stands as another pursuit where he has achieved notable results. Since the early 1990s he has created or contributed to dozens of albums, among them Roll My Blues Away (1997), These Chains (2004), Deep Water (2008), The Bell (2015), and Decembering (2021).

Born in Pleasanton, California in 1967, Furtado took up the banjo at age 12 after the Beverly Hillbillies theme and its incidental music, along with a sixth-grade music assignment, sparked his interest. Following high school he attended California State to study music and art. His technique kept advancing until he gained nationwide notice in 1987 by winning the National Bluegrass Banjo Championship in Winfield, Kansas. Soon after, he committed to music as a full-time profession. He became a member of Laurie Lewis & Grant Street, toured alongside the group, and appeared on their 1990 album Singin' My Troubles Away. Rounder Records issued his first solo effort, Swamped, that same year. The well-received record mixed original material with traditional pieces and featured a strong interpretation of Charlie "Yardbird" Parker's bebop standard "Blues for Alice." Furtado claimed a second Winfield title in 1991, after which he departed Grant Street.

Between 1990 and 1999 he issued six albums on Rounder. Within Reach arrived in 1992, and he shared billing with banjo masters Tom Adams and Tony Trischka on the live set Rounder Banjo Extravaganza Live. Full Circle followed in 1994, then the widely praised solo guitar album Roll My Blues Away appeared in 1997. That recording assembled an impressive roster of collaborators and showed Furtado channeling the influence of Ry Cooder, David Lindley, Taj Mahal, and others both in repertoire and approach. After the 1999 release Tony Furtado & Dirk Powell, he assembled his own band and ended his association with the label.

The Tony Furtado Band emerged on Cojema Music in 2000. Another blend of originals and covers, the album featured bluesman Kelly Joe Phelps singing on three tracks. The music moved smoothly among jazzy passages, Celtic, bluegrass, blues, and country & western styles. In 2002 he issued the electrified American Gypsy on the independent label What Are Records? Furtado performed on banjos as well as acoustic and electric guitars and sang on record for the first time. His regular accompanists included bassist Myron Dove, drummers Tom Brechtlein and Aaron Johnston, jazz percussionist Scott Amendola, accordionist Johnny Connolly, and electric guitarist Gawain Mathews. Oregon multi-instrumentalist Paul McCandless contributed bass clarinet. Furtado remained in the band for the 2003 live album American Gypsy Live on Dualtone. In addition to strong versions of four traditional numbers, the set contained a cover of Michael Nesmith's "Some of Shelly's Blues" and six originals, including "Hartford" and "The Ghost of Blind Willie Johnson."

Furtado then signed with Tucson indie Funzalo and released his first singer-songwriter album, These Chains, produced by Dusty Wakeman. Among its original songs stood a version of Bob Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings." He also maintained an active touring schedule and continued doing session work. In 2005 he appeared on Michelle Shocked's Got No Strings and on spouse Stephanie Schneiderman's Live at Kung Fu Bakery. He further issued the concert recording Bare Bones: Live, Solo, Acoustic.

With Wakeman again on bass and Schneiderman providing backing vocals, Furtado recorded and released Thirteen in 2006. Ten originals shared space with covers of Pete Townshend's "We Won't Get Fooled Again," John Fogerty's "Fortunate Son," and Elton John and Bernie Taupin's "Take Me to the Pilot." Deep Water followed in 2008 as a largely acoustic counterpart, presenting a restrained collection of ballads, blues, and folk-rock numbers. Golden appeared in 2010 as his most refined recording to that point. Its blues-tinged, rocking opener "Toe the Line" combined acoustic fingerpicking, gritty distorted slide lines, Delta blues phrasing, and a memorable hook. "The Willows Cry" offered a catchy country number that recalled Nick Lowe's 1980s work. "Can’t Slow Down" addressed his traveling life most directly, pairing an eerie Lindley-style slide guitar figure with warm banjo. "Devil’s Dust" delivered a fiery blues, while the yearning "Angelina" formed a Latin-inflected ballad. The instrumental "Portlandia" highlighted Furtado's precise banjo technique.

The Bell, released in 2015, drew inspiration from the death of Furtado's father and the birth of his son and placed banjo prominently on nearly all of its thirteen tracks. Even so, the music largely steered clear of bluegrass. The title track combined banjo, tablas, acoustic slide, and stacked harmonies within a rich, somber blues melody reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain." "Dying Language" reflected on others' anger and resentment, while Delta blues, pop rhythms, and American Gothic folk merged on "Low Road." Three varied instrumentals—"Astoria," "Iowa," and "Jo-Jo"—also appeared.

Furtado had long considered making a relaxed, live-to-tape album in his living room with fellow musicians to capture an unforced yet cohesive musical statement. Reverend Nat's hard cider offered that setting across six nights in 2015 and 2016. His chosen quintet, including Schneiderman on vocals and Rob Burger on accordion, performed thirteen selections spanning his career and released them as Cider House Sessions: Live at Reverend Nat's in 2017.

On November 20, 2019 he simultaneously issued two live-in-studio albums: Firecracker, consisting solely of acoustic guitar instrumentals, and Paradise, also performed on solo acoustic guitar, which presented vocals across originals, traditional pieces, and songs by Tom Petty, John Prine, Woody Guthrie, and Blind Willie Johnson. Furtado returned to the banjo in a central role on Decembering in 2021. Recorded in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic between March 2020 and September 2021, he laid down his parts in his basement home studio before sending the tracks sequentially to the other musicians, among them Burger on keyboards and accordion, bassist Todd Sickafoose of Solas, mandolinist Mike Marshall, drummer Scott Amendola, and additional contributors. Issued in December 2021, the album drew enthusiastic responses from listeners and critics for marking his return to recording with banjo as the primary instrument.