Denny Breau will be the featured musical artist at the La Rencontre luncheon series on Thursday, June 22, at the Franco Center in Lewiston.

Breau’s rhythmically flawless and dazzlingly clear style allows him to do amazing and stunning things with a six-string guitar. He first draws in an audience with a finely arranged melody and then slides effortlessly into scorching fingerwork that sets ears aflame. The lightning-fast guitar riffs that seem almost humanly impossible to accomplish are balanced with those that have a quiet intimacy and wrap tenderly around his carefully crafted songs. 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 (Maine) Journal.

As Breau greets concert-goers 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. Shows usually include a “smartly executed Chet Atkins medley by Breau who truly does the late Atkins proud,” according to a review in Dirty Linen magazine.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Breau was born to the instrument on May 26, 1952. 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. A recent Dirty Linen review of Breau’s solo CD of “neighborly song portraits of weathered souls” said that “listening to Denny nimbly bend his acoustic steel strings … one can hear a jazz player’s elegant fluidity.”

Breau started playing guitar when he was nine 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 alongside outstanding guitarists including Bryan Sutton, Harvey Reid, J.P. Cormier, Pat Donohue, Dan Crary and Steve Kaufman. He has long been in demand as a studio musician and has done jingles and soundtracks for radio and television as well as recorded and produced albums for other artists. Breau was a member of roots music trio Turkey Hollow with Tom Rowe and Rowe’s son Dave starting in 1998. Since Tom’s death in early 2004, Breau and Dave have continued to perform as Turkey Hollow on a limited basis. Breau was inducted into the Maine Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004, the youngest inductee in the history of the organization.

In addition to an active solo career, Breau gives private guitar lessons and teaches music clinics. He also fronts the Denny Breau Trio. Both in solo and trio performances, musical boundaries disappear as Breau takes his music to wherever the joy and spirit of the moment leads him.

All are welcome to attend. Attendees do not have to belong to a club or speak French. Doors open at 10 a.m. with an 11:30 a.m. lunch followed by entertainment. Lunch will be Shepherd’s pie, vegetable, roll, and dessert. Door prizes and 50/50 raffle will be part of the event. Tickets are $15 each and must be purchased by noon on Monday, June 19 prior so that all meals can be counted. Call 207-689-2000 for tickets or stop at our box office from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Tickets will not be sold at the door.

The Franco Center is located in the former St. Mary’s Church at 46 Cedar St., Lewiston. Parking is available in the mill lot. The building is handicap accessible on the Lincoln St. Alley side. For more information, call 207-689-2000.

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