Boston-based guitarist extraordinaire Tony Savarino will be kicking off the release of his latest CD, “Savvy Tonarino,” at The Burren on Sunday, September 15.

Guitar wizard Tony Savarino to debut new CD
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By Blake Maddux

Boston-born guitarist Tony Savarino’s website states that he has “played in every band in Boston.”

This is not intended to be understood as anything other than tongue-in-cheek hyperbole that it obviously is. However, the Berklee graduate estimates that he has been a member of “probably over a hundred” local groups since 1985, with tenures ranging from 12 weeks to 10 years. The band that he currently fronts is called The Savtones.

Savarino’s father is a retired nuclear physicist and his mother, who passed away in 2017, was a painter. As he sees it, “Being a musician is the perfect compromise between a visual artist and a scientist.”

In addition to being in 100 or so bands, Savarino has been a guitar instructor since he was a teenager. He currently provides guitar lessons at Mass Ave Music (487 Somerville Avenue) and teaches classes at Berklee in the summer.

Finally, the arguably hardest working guitar player in Boston also has four solo albums to his credit. He will be celebrating the release of his new CD, Savvy Tonarino, at The Burren on Sunday, September 15.

Somerville Times: Was a lot of music played in your family’s house when you were growing up?

Tony Savarino: Music was a huge part of my life on both my mom and dad’s side of the family. My dad was a pianist. My mom had exceptional taste in music. She had me listening to T. Rex, [the David Bowie album] Ziggy Stardust, and John Coltrane at a very young age. My grandfather on my father’s side was a virtuoso fiddle player until he lost his arm in a lumber mill accident at age 19. So yeah, I was exposed to a wide range of music as a young kid. At some point I’d be listening to old-time mountain music, at some point I’d be listening to Van Halen, at some point I’d be listening to Pat Metheny. It was really the gamut.

ST: Do you remember when you got your first guitar?

TS: According to my mom and dad, we went to a flea market when I was three and I saw a guitar and I just took it and started walking away with it. My father of course paid for it. I didn’t really play the thing, I just kind of dragged it around the house. I started playing guitar seriously around 10 years old.

ST: Several of the tracks on Savvy Tonarino are covers that are dedicated to various people. Why did you choose to record some of these songs and to devote them to whom you did?

TS: My bass player and my producer, Sean McLaughlin, are both huge fans of Twin Peaks. We had recorded three tunes at the studio: Man of Mystery, You More Than Me, and I think And Then They Were Gone. The reboot of Twin Peaks was on, and I said, “Hey, why don’t we do The Pink Room really quick?” And that really made Sean’s day, so I just dedicated it to him. The song Brawl I dedicated to Al Shapiro, who engineered a lot of stuff on my first three records. He passed away in 2014. He was a great friend and mentor. I Only Have Eyes for You is for one of my oldest friends, Paola Batti. She kind of hit a rough patch and wasn’t feeling too great about herself, and I just wanted to make her feel good. This is basically just so if she’s bummed out she can say, “Oh, there’s a song that was dedicated to me on a record.”

ST: In addition to recording and performing live, do you play birthdays, weddings, and bar/bat mitzvahs?

TS: I have. Actually, I wouldn’t mind more wedding gigs. They pay great and the musicians are usually awesome. At every Savtones show, I make it a point to say that we’re available for any kind of function that you want. Weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs, Masonic promotions. In fact, The Savtones get hired for two or three corporate gigs a year. They typically hire us just to be us, so we’re not catering to anyone. We just being ourselves. And I get to pay the band really well on those.

ST: How long have you been a guitar teacher at Mass Ave Music, Berklee, and in other capacities?

TS: Mass Ave Music and Berklee have each been about five years. But I’ve been teaching guitar since I was 17. In the ‘90s, I was on the road more and was making more from playing. Then I kinda hit a personal bottom and I needed to get a normal job so I could get a normal schedule going. About the time of 9/11, I got laid off, and it horrified me that an employer was in charge of my destination. I had a couple of music-related jobs after that, got laid off again, and built up my student roster while collecting unemployment. And I just didn’t say no to any gigs for like six or seven years.

ST: Are most of your students young people who aspire to rock ‘n’ roll stardom?

TS: Actually, I teach a lot of guys who play in bands. A lot of great guitar players just come to me to get out of ruts. They’re perfectly capable of playing but just need a fresh outlook, so I view myself more as a consultant.

Tony Savarino CD release with The B3 Kings, Sunday, September 15, 7:30 p.m., at The Burren Back Room, 247 Elm St., Somerville.