Tanis Browning-Shelp
Whether Tony Diteodoro’s influences rise from the delta or the desert, he is devoted to music and acknowledges that his Ottawa roots have had a meaningful impact on his 40+ year career. Diteodoro (Tony D) is guitarist, writer, and producer for the Juno-award winning band Monkey Junk and guitarist, writer, producer, band leader, and vocalist for The Tony D Band. His first love is the blues, but he has explored various music forms, including flamenco. Reviewers have called him “guitar hero” and described his sets as “rip-roaring.”
He was born in Pescara, Italy. “In 1968, we crossed the Atlantic, moving to Canada for a better life. We knew nothing about winter. My uncle had come to Ottawa for work opportunities and healthcare.” Ottawa has been home for Diteodoro ever since. “I attended Elgin Street public school, Glashan, and Lisgar. I continued at Glebe Collegiate after being kicked out of Lisgar, but missed a final exam because I had a gig that day.”
Hometown guitar guru Tony D has done it all in the music industry in Ottawa and has played together with the likes of Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughan over a storied career. Photo by Peter Fowler
Diteodoro considers whether he would have developed in the same way as a musician if he had stayed in Italy or ended up in Toronto. “I believe that we all have a calling, but I’m not sure that I would have had the same opportunities in those other places.”
When Diteodoro was 12, his brother would bring home the rock and blues records he still listens to today. “We were always saving money to buy music and listened to Chez 106 and CHOM FM (out of Montreal) constantly. Blues/jazz radio programs and Don Kirshner’s live TV rock shows were my early musical education. I started learning guitar at 13.”
One day Diteodoro realized that blues music was the foundation of everything he’d been listening to. “It hit me like a jolt and struck with such a force! I loved the repetitive form with its improvisational component. I took six months of guitar lessons before my teacher left. Then my dad said: ‘Listen to the music. You’ve got those notes on your guitar. Figure them out.’”
At 15, Diteodoro started a band called High Society. “We made $11 at our first show. At 16, I played in an Italian wedding band, but that wasn’t for me. Larry Mootham from The Downstairs Club on Rideau hired me shortly after that, and we soon became the house band. When they brought in blues guitarist/singer Buddy Guy I got to play rhythm guitar for him at 19! I played with drummer Ross Murray, the sound engineer for Happy Rock Studios. Ross eventually moved his studio to Lees Avenue (OOE). I recorded three albums there. And when I played with Stevie Ray Vaughan at the NAC it changed my life.”
Diteodoro taught OOE students instrumental blues at the Ottawa Folklore Centre. “I may not have a been a great teacher, but I learned a lot. I got into different styles of music and developed better technique because of my work with the musicians/coaches there.”
Meeting a young Steve Marriner paved the way for collaboration and huge success with their Juno award winning trio, Monkey Junk. Photo Supplied
Diteodoro met Monkey Junk’s Steve Marriner in Ottawa when Marriner was just 13. “He was 22 years younger than me and a great harmonica player. His dad would drive him over to play with me. When Steve eventually got a house gig at Irene’s Pub on Sundays he asked if I would play with him. We both played guitar along with drummer Matt Sobb. The name Monkey Junk came from hearing an old-timey blues musician use the term as meaning ‘nonsense.’ Soon we had line-ups out the door. Eventually, we thought, why not record something!”
In 2012, Monkey Junk won a Juno. “The ceremony was right here in our hometown. We even presented two awards duringthe live TV show. Lots of doors opened up for us after that: interviews, tours, and funding for recording. We won another Juno in 2018 and have had three nominations.”
Tony D began honing his guitar skills as a 13-year-old and wonders whether he would have had as many opportunities in music had he not spent his career in Ottawa. Photo Supplied
Performing live continues to be Diteodoro’s life force. “As people age, their drive to work sometimes diminishes. For me, at 61, it seems to have gone the opposite way. I love playing. I’ve had all kinds of time in the arts, musical evolutions, and musical maturity.”
Diteodoro believes that when playing music, age dissolves. “One of the best shows I’ve seen was Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Plant is not doing a tribute to himself; he has evolved, and their music together is sophisticated and lovely. He seems to enjoy being his age, jowls and all, and plays genuinely new material.”
Diteodoro has played Ottawa’s Rainbow Bistro more than any other artist. “I’m still playing at the Rainbow and Irene’s; I love house concerts and the people who come out to them; I play festivals here; I recently toured three towns in Italy; and Monkey Junk is playing festivals all over the world.”
Diteodoro finds recording stressful. “If I’m not convinced it’s good, I keep trying to fix it.” Despite that, he has recorded five records with Monkey Junk (Stony Plain Records) and will be releasing another Tony D Band album called Electric Delta this November (Cordova Bay Records). “We’re putting the finishing touches on it now.”
For more on Tony D, go to: https://www.tonyguitarro.com/.
Author Tanis Browning-Shelp (http://www.browning-shelp.com) pens her Maryn O’Brien Young Adult Fiction series, published by Dog-Eared Books, from her home in Old Ottawa East. Contact tanis@browning-shelp.com if you have information about artists or art events that you believe would enrich our community members’ lives.
