We recently connected with Rino Calandra and have shared our conversation below.
Rino, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
My name is Rino Calandra and I am originally from Genoa (Italy). Passion for Music and guitars made me move to USA, and since 2014 I live in Nashville (Tennessee). I am a fingerstyle guitar player and singer songwriter. I played in many shows, and festival in Europe, Canada, and here in the United States. In addition to be a musician, I started (back in 2012) the activity of “guitar hunter”. Looking for guitars that were requested of me. Vintage , limited edition, left hand, and more. Starting this with acquaintances and friends: to then build a real clientele (expecially in Italy). This made me also passionate about the art of building a guitar, the diversity of woods, and the whole process to achieve this. My future plan is to open a left-handed (and right-handed) guitar shop here in Nashville. I also worked for Gibson guitar for a short time, but it didn’t work out. Playing the guitar completely changed my life. It gave me the chance to be myself, communicate (when I didn’t yet speak English), meet people, and have something to bring all my emotions to. I’m currently working on my new instrumental guitar record, continuing my activity as a guitar hunter, purchasing guitars for my future shop, and living my life in Nashville.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Rino and I am originally from Genoa Italy. My passion for music and guitars made me move to Nashville (TN) in 2014. I played many shows in Europe (previously) and then Canada and the United States. I have shared the stage with many great musicians including: Tommy Emmanuel, Vince Gill, Clive Carroll, Mike Marshall, and many others. In addition to my activity as a musician, I started (in 2012) my guitar business. I look for guitar models that are difficult to find for my customers. Vintage, custom shop, left hand, and anything else asked of me. This is probably something no one does, and my plan for the foreseeable future is to open a left-handed guitar shop here in Nashville.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When I moved to USA my English was really bad, but going out and talking with people mostly about Music and guitars made me learning pretty quickly.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My goal in my journey is being myself, be respectful with others, be happy, and trying doing something unique
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/rino_calandra?igshid=MzMyNGUyNmU2YQ== https://instagram.com/calandra_guitars?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100055149625385&mibextid=ZbWKwL https://www.facebook.com/Calandrasguitars?mibextid=ZbWKwL
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@Rinocalandra?si=4OXSedR46PWLw13x
Image Credits
Nathan Bradley