Denny Breau Submitted photo
“Music for Mavis” Tuesdays at the Gazebo music series presents our much beloved country music recording artist Denny Breau from 6:30-8 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 8, at the gazebo in Turner.
“Denny’s rhythmically flawless and dazzlingly clear style allows him to do amazing things with a six-string guitar. He first draws in an audience with a finely arranged melody and then slides effortlessly into scorching finger work that sets ears aflame. He mixes genres with ease — folk, Delta blues, country and jazz — “creating a totally accessible musical mélange that captivates as it entertains,” according to Lucky Clark writing for the Kennebec Journal.
Guitarists in the audience often suspect that they have been left in the dust and regularly tell him that they might as well hang up their guitars. As he greets concertgoers and shakes hands following his performances, guitar players invariably ask how he performs certain techniques and Breau, who has a passion for teaching, is happy to show them. This is especially true when demonstrating the guitar style of Chet Atkins, who was a family friend and major influence.
His shows usually include a “smartly executed Chet Atkins medley and Breau “truly does the late Atkins proud,” according to a review in Dirty Linen magazine. It is not an exaggeration to say that Denny was born to the instrument. His parents, Hal Lone Pine and Betty Cody, were popular country performers and RCA recording artists beginning in the 1940s. His older brother, the late Lenny Breau, is considered a jazz guitar giant. Denny started playing guitar when he was 9 years old and was performing professionally by his early teens. During more than 30 years as a full-time musician, He has performed with many well-known artists and picked along side outstanding guitarists.
Breau was inducted into the Maine Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004, the youngest inductee in the history of the organization.
The show will go on rain or shine. Bring a chair, a blanket, and a friend. We pass the hat to pay the musicians. Suggested donation $10. For more information, call 207-754-0954 or 207-240-4591 or visit the Music for Mavis page on Facebook. The gazebo is located off Rt. 117 near the Turner Public Library at 98 Mathews Way, Turner.
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