Article Contributed by Mountain Home Music Company
Published on 2026-05-01
“He’s just a wonderful friend and a lovely dude,” says guitar maestro Bryan Sutton of Tommy Emmanuel, his musical foil on the latest entry in his From Roots to Branches series of six-string-centered duets. Zeroing in on one of the most durable products of the early string band era, their vivacious take on “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down” not only features dazzlingly creative interplay, but testifies to the warmth of a relationship years in the making.
“That song,” he continues, “comes from more of a bluegrass background, but those chord changes lean a little more to the swing and jazz world — and that's where he and I have spent a lot of time playing other songs together. I was a partner on his duet record some years ago; we did ‘C Jam Blues’ and some other swing music like that. So with that kind of partner, it's like trying to choose guitars, I’m trying to choose songs that sort of honor a certain angle of our relationship musically — and that mix of bluegrass and jazz and swing is where Tommy Emmanuel and I find some common ground."
The good humor and relaxed, confident nature of the encounter can be heard from the track’s opening, when Sutton launches into the first solo over Emmanuel’s energetic “sock” rhythm. Three verses follow — two from co-writer Charlie Poole and his North Carolina Ramblers’ original 1925 recording, one from Sutton himself — punctuated not only by a jaw-dropping array of solos and sparkling duo passages, but also by off-the-cuff conversational remarks from the two, as they egg each other on in ever more inspired variations.
“Tommy’s just been gracious to me over the years,” Sutton notes. “Certainly, the world knows how strong a musician he is, but he’s a big pal and he's a big energy, too!”
"Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" is streaming in Dolby Atmos spatial audio on Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL. Listen to it HERE.
