photo courtesy Gorg (A)
Biographical notes
He started playing guitar at the age of 12. In 1986 he published his first blues book “My Acoustic Blues Guitar.”
He collaborated as a journalist for the magazine’s Guitar Club, Chitarre, Acoustic Guitar.
He is the author of CDs, books and videos based on his compositions on traditional Italian, blues, jazz and Celtic music.
In the United States, he received the GPJ Folk Awards for independent music for the Cd Italian Fingerstyle Guitar as the best album in the category ‘solo guitar.’
Concerts and guitar courses
He performs in Europe, the United States and Japan. He has been teaching and organizing fingerstyle guitar workshops for about 30 years. In Italy, in the Marche region, he opened a teaching space with Raffaella Luna, the Acoustic Guitar Workshops.
Live Performances
He performed with John Renbourn, Leo Kottke, Tim Sparks, Alex De Grassi and many others. He performs solo or duo with the singer Raffaella Luna with traditional Italian songs and original songs.
Repertoire
His repertoire has solid foundations in blues, jazz, Celtic music and Italian folk. Languages deepened with absolute competence during continuous research, with a distinctive and personal sound.
Music labels
MBG Ariola, Carisch, Bèrben, Acoustic Music Records, Acoustic Music Books, are the labels and publishers that have produced his works. Currently, he publishes with his Acoustic Guitar Workshops label.
DISCOGRAPHY
- Strings of Heart
- Canti lontani nel tempo (voice: Raffaella Luna)
- Back to My Best
- Miles of Blues
- Songs We Love (voice: Raffaella Luna)
- The Road to Lisdoonvarna
- Italian Fingerstyle Guitar
- Running Home
- Melodies of Memories
- The South Wind
- Guitàrea
- Stranalandia
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Strings of Heart
- Fingerstyle Blues Collection
- Fingerstyle Jazz
- Italian Fingerstyle Guitar
- Easy Fingerstyle Songs
- 10 Duets for Fingerstyle Guitar con Ulli Boergershausen
- Back to My Best
- Melodies of Memories
- Celtic Fingerstyle Collection (The South Wind)
- Guitàrea
- Stranalandia
Live concerts
All-Star Guitar Night-Nashville–USA
Musicultura–Macerata-I
Press reviews
“Your playing on the new album is so breathtakingly beautiful, with every single note in every song sounding unbelievably sweet, round and clear – it really blows my mind, and it humiliates me as a guitar player. You have reached a level that goes far beyond everything we ever dreamed of when we fell in love with the guitar and with guitar music in our youth”
Franco … once on stage gives us a simply superb concert, fresh, inspired and intense enough to make the audience skin their hands…… do not miss Franco Morone if with his magic guitar happened one day in your area: I assure you will not regret it!
Franco is an artist who brought the history of the acoustic guitar to Italy. A refined musician, an excellent arranger, an attentive connoisseur of the Italian and European folk heritage, he has written music pages on which the latest generations of guitarists have worn out their fingers.
Franco Morone confirms himself as a very talented composer and guitarist. In his case, it is the compositional idea that conveys the style like Villa Lobos or John Renbourn.
When Franco Morone plays, you can feel a deep intensity. Mostly eyes closed, the artist is 100% inside his music. He is a master at work when the magic happens. Every note he plays is necessary. In every note, there is an Italian feeling of lightness and Mediterranean poetry garnished with precious ornaments. Franco is a wanderer between musical styles – Celtic sounds, jazz, blues and much more – which he masters entirely and perfectly.
Franco Morone is, without a doubt, an acoustic guitar genius and for sure one of our favourite musicians. His playing is always a miracle of solid grooves, great melodies and a tone to die. His repertoire is versatile, full of interest and delightful surprises.
As the rather convincing result proves, if there was any need, Franco Morone is one of the great fingerstyle guitarists of the moment. In short, an excellent album, elegant, warm, colourful to be enjoyed without moderation.
Morone has one of the most identifiable sounds of anyone playing fingerstyle guitar today.
Franco Morone captures the listener in a wide variety of styles and excels at creating fantastic, rich moods in his modern approach to fingerstyle guitar.
“Without taking anything away from your past works, which as you know I appreciated, I believe that “Italian Fingerstyle Guitar” is your most successful and stimulating project, obviously also thanks to the chosen repertoire that shows an uncommon sensitivity and musical intelligence. I have devoured this CD in the sense that I have listened to it over and over again – something that happens to me very rarely – and at every opportunity, I have managed to find new suggestions and impressions. In addition to having streamed on many tracks of “Italian Fingerstyle Guitar,” I also chose it as “Album of the Week”.