Julian Lage, who is headlining this Friday’s tenth show in Newtown’s Live at the Edmond Town Hall series, told The Newtown Bee that his touring partner Chris Eldridge is recovering from the ski injury that waylaid him and prevented the Punch Bothers guitarist from appearing on the same bill here. But Lage is soldiering on, promising an even more intimate and diverse performance in a solo format, with Stamford-based father-daughter duo Dave and Emma Hart opening.

Tickets for the May 8 show are $20 each and are available at www.edmondtownhall.org/liveateth or by calling 203-426-2475. The performance is scheduled to begin at 7 pm.

All profits from this show, like all that preceded it, will go toward continued  renovations and upgrades at the Edmond Town Hall Theatre. Lage joins an impressive roster of previous guests in the Live at ETH series, which includes The Low Anthem, Bill Frisell and Sam Amidon, Brown Bird, Phosphorescent, Fred Hersch, Autumn Defense, Mark Kozelek, and Quiet Life.

For those unfamiliar with the young artist, Lage is an American guitarist, composer and arranger living in New York City. Often categorized as a jazz musician, his music is rooted in both traditional and acoustic forms.

Regarded as a child guitar prodigy, Lage began playing at age five and was performing in public a year later. By the time he was eight, he was playing beside renowned artists like Carlos Santana, eventually graduating to gigs with Pat Metheny, Kenny Werner, Toots Thielemans, Martin Taylor, and David Grisman.

As a result of his talent, and the novelty of someone so young being so gifted at navigating the complex waters of jazz, he became the subject of a 1997 Academy Award nominated documentary film, Jules at Eight. At the age of 21, the Boston-based Lage released his debut album, Sounding Point, with material ranging from through-composed works and impromptu improvisations in duo and trio settings, to solo excursions and a finale capped by a masterful rendering of Miles Davis’s “All Blues.”

The debut also delivered covers of Elliott Smith’s “Alameda,” and Neil Hefti’s “Lil’ Darlin,” and was nominated for a Best Contemporary Jazz Grammy in 2010. Lage explained that while he had been approached fairly regularly by those looking to capture his work growing up, he didn’t embrace the opportunity to record until he turned 21.

“That was right at the end of my Berkelee days,” he said. “It seemed so obvious to me to wait — I had so much to do and learn before it felt appropriate to put out my own first album. I did have recording opportunities when I was quite young, but I just said no.”

He said in a lot of ways, while he was playing far beyond his years, Lage was not immediately aware of how good he actually was on guitar for his age.

“In a lot of ways I feel tremendously lucky I get to practice this craft. I don’t take it for granted,” Lage said. “There’s a certain calm that comes with it and I’m grateful it’s been part of my life for so long. I’m constantly blown away that I get to do this.”

Lage collaborations include a duo with Grisman (the 1999 release Dawg Duos), and he contributed a fine cover of “In a Sentimental Mood” with Martin Taylor and David Grisman, for the 2000 compilation Acoustic Disc: 100% Handmade Music, Vol. 5.

Lage has also appeared at numerous jazz concerts/festivals, including the St. Louis Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, and the San Francisco Jazz Festival, and he performed on the 2000 Grammy Awards. Among other collaborators were Jim Hall, Mark O'Connor, Nels Cline, Chris Eldridge, Scott Colley and Antonio Sanchez.

In addition to his own quintet he has recorded with Gary Burton, Eric Harland, Anthony Wilson, Martin Taylor, Joshua Bell, and Yoko Ono. And his duo album, Free Flying, with Fred Hersch, received a coveted “5 Star” review in Down Beat magazine.

According to an advance, Lage is now touring behind World’s Fair, a new musical narrative featuring a vast range of timbral and musical possibilities living within a single acoustic guitar. Inspired by the orchestral approach to the guitar of the great Andres Segovia, as well as the shorter song forms of contemporary acoustic music, this solo project shines a light directly on the interaction between musical storytelling, spontaneous composition, and the unmistakable voice of a vintage Martin guitar.

But followers and newcomers to Lage’s artistry will also see him expertly navigating a number of songs Friday on one of his other favorite instruments: an electric Fender Telecaster. Lage told The Bee that despite his love for hollow body electric arch-top instruments, his “Tele” has become the go-to instrument for creating his most colorful sound canvasses.

“The Tele is one of the most brutal instruments for keeping you honest,” Lage said chuckling. “From intonation, to phrasing, it’s such a kick in the butt. I love it. I spent more time playing arch tops, but in a funny way I feel more interested in Telecasters. Arch tops can be really good, but it all has to do with context. But I’m most at home with flat top acoustics. I love old Martins and Gibsons.”

Lage said his Edmond Town Hall show will be about equally split between acoustic and electric jazz, and he will be mixing material from World’s Fair and a new trio record he is currently completing. He said as a music fan himself, his objective as a performer is to keep himself entertained.

“That’s the best I can do because quite frankly, I don’t know what other people like,” he said. “But the things I like about my own stuff and other people’s material tends to have a through line, whether it’s melodically or rhythmically or from a story telling point of view. I don’t worry too much about it — I just play stuff that I care about.”

Lage says he delves deep into a number of artists who created some beautiful and endearing melodies years before the flood of material that now comprises what is known as “The Great American Songbook.”

“I play a version of ‘I’ll Be Seeing You,’ which is a pretty popular standard, but some of the other tunes from the 1920s are not as universally known — although they are really beautiful pre- Be-Bop melodies,” Lage said. “They never get old.”

Check out Lage performing “The Best Thing For You” in a 2011 set here.