ACOUSTIC’S REIGNING CHAMP
WATCHING CHRISTIE LENÉE perform her solo acoustic act is like seeing a firecracker pixie execute a high-wire circus routine while doing flips and juggling flaming bowling pins. But Lenée is not only a trick pony. Her use of dexterous fingerpicking and two-hand tapping to relay deep emotions through tuneful compositions was more than enough to win her the 2017 International Fingerstyle Guitar Championship, an acoustic-only competition held at the Walnut Valley Festival in Kansas.
Fast forward to the 2019 U.K. Guitar Show in London this past September, where the rules of acoustic engagement were more modern. Performing before a panel of esteemed guitar magazine editors and virtuosos, including Andy McKee, Molly Tuttle and John Jorgenson, Lenée put on her trademark pedal dance, incorporating live looping while wearing a tambourine on her left foot and stomping on a Kopf Percussion ToeKicker with her right. (On a typical
