Artist: Lenny Breau

Lenny Breau was an American-Canadian guitarist. He blended many styles of music, including jazz, country, classical, and flamenco. Inspired by country guitarists like Chet Atkins, Breau used fingerstyle techniques not often used in jazz guitar. By using a seven-string guitar and approaching the guitar like a piano, he opened up new possibilities for the instrument. 

He sought out local Winnipeg jazz musicians, and met pianist Bob Erlendson, who taught him the foundations of jazz. In 1962, Breau briefly performed in the Toronto-based jazz group Three with singer and actor Don Francks, and Eon Henstridge on acoustic bass. Three performed in Toronto, Ottawa, and New York City. They recorded a live album at the Village Vanguard in New York City and appeared on the Jackie Gleason and Joey Bishop television shows. 

Returning to Winnipeg a few months later, Breau became a session guitarist, recording for CBC Radio and CBC Television, and contributed to CBC-TV's Teenbeat, Music Hop, and his own The Lenny Breau Show filmed in Winnipeg. In 1963 and 1964, Breau appeared at David Ingram's Fourth Dimension at 2000 Pembina Highway in Fort Garry, a suburb of Winnipeg. Other regulars at the club on Sunday nights included Neil Young and his band The Squires, and Randy Bachman, who was heavily influenced by Breau, particularly evident in the jazz guitar style of his The Guess Who hit "Undun". 

In 1967, recordings of Breau's playing from The Lenny Breau Show found their way to Chet Atkins. The ensuing friendship resulted in Breau's first two mature solo albums,  Guitar Sounds from Lenny Breau and  The Velvet Touch of Lenny Breau – Live! on RCA.

Breau left Winnipeg in 1976 and spent the last few years of his life in the United States, living in Maine, Nashville, Stockton, California, and New York City, eventually settling in Los Angeles in 1983. These years he spent performing, teaching, and writing for  Guitar Player magazine.