ALLENSPARK — For his entire musical life, Anthony Lewis “Tony” Crank has gravitated towards the guitar as a form of personal expression. From a young age, raised in a low-income family, he challenged himself by learning guitar with minimal help from pedals.
Crank says of relying on pedals for his playing, “It doesn’t really make it to where it’s your voice; it kind of hides it. When I plug in strings to the amp, it really amplifies me.”
Crank also enjoys the challenge of strengthening his skills and continuing to learn new aspects of the instrument. When he plays with other musicians, he aims to complement their playing rather than emphasize his guitar as the primary musical element.
“When artists would be playing guitar or singing, I would just sit behind them and ask, of course, if I could play with them,” says Crank. “At first they’d be reluctant, and as soon as they hear my guitar, they’re like, ‘Okay, that’s really good, you’re really adding something to the music,’ and I’m just really excited.”
Crank has brought his guitar voice to life in multiple ways, learned acoustic and electric, and plays in styles like slide and classical. For him, there are multiple ways to express himself with the same foundational ideas.
Of the guitar, Crank says, “It’s a medium. Some people delve in pottery and then switch over to acrylic, and some go into some other medium, like dancing.”
Crank continuously challenges himself and still enjoys the challenge to this day. Initially embracing teaching as a day job, he pursued guitar more seriously after being involved in two car crashes in 2017. Suffering a head concussion from the first and additional head trauma from the second (which took place less than four days later), he embraced guitar again as a neuroplasticity strategy.
“I have two daughters, and they’re wonderful humans,” says Crank, “so I wasn’t really planning on playing guitar out. I was planning on raising them, of course. When the accident happened, whenever I played music, I felt really comfortable. It was helping me, making the synapses grow. The process was extremely fun, just being challenged.”
Crank doesn’t play guitar because he needs to be recognized for his playing, but for the fun of the challenge and a method of expressing his voice. As he puts it, “It was just the pure love and joy of it, not so much trying to make it.”
Tony Crank will be playing in a group of musicians under the name Tony Crank Music at The Old Gallery at 14863 Highway 7 in Allenspark on Sunday, May 24, 2026, starting at 7 p.m.
