Peppino D’Agostino to bring guitar wizardry to SLO County

When people ask Peppino D’Agostino what he does for a living, he has a ready reply.

“I say I’m in the mental health business, because music really heals people,” the Italian-born fingerstyle guitarist said with a chuckle. “If you think about the power of music through the millennia, (it’s been) the great consoler of humanity since man appeared on the planet.”

D’Agostino, who celebrates his 60th birthday this month, has reason to believe in music’s power.

Since leaving his native Sicily for the Bay Area more than three decades ago, he’s recorded a handful of albums, performed in more than 30 countries and shared the stage with the likes of Tommy Emmanuel, Leo Kottke and Sergio Assad.

“I feel very lucky because I do what I do,” said the guitarist, who plays Friday at Coalesce Bookstore in Morro Bay and Saturday at Castoro Cellars in Templeton. “Music has been my source of joy since I was a little kid. To make a living out of it is pretty amazing.”

A frequent visitor to the Central Coast for 30-plus years, D’Agostino first performed locally at Linnaea’s Café in San Luis Obispo in 1985. (Like his San Luis Obispo County concerts this week, the gig was presented by SLOfolks, the San Luis Obispo Folk Music Society.)

“The first time I came here, there were not that many people, but the second time they had to put so many chairs out,” he recalled.

He has been a hit locally ever since.

Among the many qualities that have endeared D’Agostino to Central Coast audiences are his warm stage presence, sprightly sense of humor and masterful playing style.

The latter, which finds him employing open tunings and harmonics on acoustic and steel string guitar, has earned D’Agostino accolades from the likes of Acoustic Guitar and Guitar Player magazines. He even has his own signature acoustic guitar, through Canadian instrument maker Seagull Guitars.

Most people, D’Agostino said, “think of the instrument as an accompanying instrument for the voice. You have your guitar, pick, strum chords and sing.”

But, he said, the guitar can be playing in a polyphonic way — with melodies, chord progressions and bass lines merged with percussion.

“Those four elements together really make the guitar sound like a band, like an orchestra,” D’Agostino explained. “You can show that an instrument can be a percussive instrument as well as a melodic or harmonic instrument.”

This week, concertgoers will likely hear D’Agostino explore a musical collage with international flavor, offering “a medley of music from Ireland to Argentina and Brazil and Italy.” He and Italian producer Corrado Rustici just wrapped up work on the follow-up to D’Agostino’s 2014 album “Penumbra,” tentatively titled “For the Beauty of This Wicked World”; due out in 2017, it features electric guitar and guitar synthesizer sounds.

Audience members may even catch an excerpt of the soundtrack D’Agostino recently composed for “Journey to Baja: A Tale of Three Travelers,” playing daily at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The 15-minute documentary follows the migration of three far-ranging animals — gray whales, brown pelicans and elephant seals — as they travel to Baja California, Mexico, to give birth to their young.

“You see these creatures and you go, ‘What can I do to really create this music to match the majesty of these huge animals?’ ” said D’Agostino, who used deep reverb to “echo the depth and immensity of the ocean.”

Also in store for audiences Friday and Saturday are some anecdotes and a few jokes. The guitarist, who likes to cook, may even toss in a recipe or two.

“I think that humor, just like music, can really help people,” the guitarist said. “It’s an essential part of feeling good.”

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 12:24 PM with the headline "Peppino D’Agostino to bring guitar wizardry to SLO County."