BLACK HAWK — Sometimes, musicians focus on playing in a particular style, and other times, they find a way to embrace their tastes in a different style. Andre LaMotte is one of those musicians.
Starting guitar at the age of seven, LaMotte performed in various rock and cover bands throughout junior high, studying guitar in the hopes of becoming like Jimmy Page. As time progressed, he had to shift his focus primarily to work.
“My other job excluded me from playing late nights anymore,” says the Castle Rock resident, who has worked as a pilot for United Airlines since 1997. “So I took a break, but I always knew I wanted to keep playing.” For the last seven years, the 56-year-old guitarist has embraced performing with the Spanish guitar, primarily in the Denver area.
The twist comes in his setlist of original arrangements of classic rock acts such as The Beatles and Santana, modern nuevo flamenco performers such as Rodrigo y Gabriela, Jesse Cook, and Ottman Liebert, and even contemporary pop artists such as Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, and Sabrina Carpenter.
LaMotte says of the Spanish guitar’s appeal, “I could play as a soloist, but I could still play music that I like, and I could play lead guitar the whole time.”
Two pivotal moments built LaMotte’s transitional bridge from rock to Spanish guitar: his aunt taking him to an Esteban concert in Arizona and listening to the radio playing in the background at home.
“I heard this song come on the radio, and I thought, ‘Wow, that sounds like a song by Metallica,” Lamotte recalls, hearing glaring similarities between the band’s instrumental “Orion” and the radio track. “I thought, ‘Wow, they really copied that song,' but then the more I listened to it, they were actually playing it on two Spanish guitars… perfectly.”
LaMotte took that to heart, as he arranges his instrumentals to match the original songs as closely as possible. Inspired by the melodic movements of Spanish guitar performances, he loves creating precise arrangements that keep the flow of the original songs, and he’ll also throw improvisations into his performances.
“Now, I can play the songs that I like, but I can play them for anybody,” says LaMotte. “Old, young, nobody’ll care. It makes people feel like they’re on vacation… no matter what song you’re playing.”
Andre LaMotte will be performing at Bistro Mariposa in the Monarch Casino Resort Spa, located at 488 Main Street in Black Hawk, on Friday, January 9, 2025, starting at 7 p.m.
