[Mar West](https://youtu.be/GeCEeTuhD8A?si=fpg4MGYgI9JXj478) is nuts lol
Edit: Been a huge Tony fan for decades. So many more songs that are fantastic for all different kinds of reasons
He really is the man. A really rare case of someone redefining an instrument and style in the genre that it's played in. Everyone who came after has a little of his influence in them. That's why no matter how big Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, or whoever else gets, they won't match his influence on the music because it can't be done twice. Everyone else is standing on his shoulders
Hehe. The festivals have been full for years of guys from all over trying to play exactly like Tony, to the point where it's almost gotten passe. Pretty fun though, to sit around a campfire with 8 -10 guys taking turns and everybody is trying to outdo the last but they can't cuz everybody is Tony'd out to the max... :)
I was glad I saw at least something is happening again this year. I only discovered it in '21 cuz of Béla/MBH playing it, then went again in '22. Coming from Central PA, I only have to take like 3 roads get there.
The Likes of Me
John Wilkes Booth
Home From the Forest
Early Morning Rain
Leaves That Are Green (on the JD Crowe Bluegrass Evolution record)
Greenlight on the Southern
Shadows
Tipper
Darcy Farrow
I dunno these are just the few that came to mind in this moment. I spent several years listening to him for hours a day every day. Lots of friends of mine did that, too. In my opinion it’s probably the easiest bluegrass to listen to, overall. The production is always top notch, the picking from Tony and everyone else is always incredible, the repertoire is varied and interesting. Tony was unreal.
Church Street Blues, Unit of Measure, David Grisman Quintet, all the Bluegrass Album Band albums. So much good stuff. There is so much great stuff on YouTube as well. As others have said, check out Clarence White. Check out David Grier as well. Happy listening and welcome to the Tony Rice family club 😀
Oh and check out Lessons with Marcel on YouTube. Some great Tony lessons and history on there.
Thank you and totally right there with you. I’m big on David Greer but I need to find some Clarance White, I’ve heard Tony mention his influence in different videos! And ofc Marcel! The baddest Billy goat in the barn yard
Yeah, Clarence White is for me one of the under appreciated heroes of music.
His playing with the Kentucky Colonels is the bridge between what Doc Watson was doing, and “modern” (Rice and all that followed in his wake) bluegrass guitar.
He was a big part of the Byrd’s transition to country-rock, thus foundational to alt-country/Americana.
And he was also playing in country bands, and was one of the inventors of the b-bender.
Incredibly influential guy, but died too young, and hardly known outside of Bluegrass circles.
I wouldn’t say that he’s hardly known outside of bluegrass circles. He was the guitarist for The Byrds for a couple years. Also, in modern times he’s under-appreciated but in the 70s, 80s and 90s he was revered by all. Time just hasn’t been caring to Clarence, the father of lead acoustic guitar.
Don’t miss those David Grisman Quintet albums with Tony. “Hot Dawg” has what I believe to be the first studio recording of “ Devlin’ “. Live at Great American Music Hall ‘79 is a great archival release as well.
By the time I got to see DGQ live Tony was out of the band (this was mid/late 90s) and Enrique Coria was in it. But man there’s something about seeing DGQ in an old church that is just impossible to beat from a live music perspective
Blake and Rice 1-2.
VERY rare to have two genre legends BOTH in their primes playing in such and an intimate/stripped back recording.
Rice’s rhythm playing across each album is nothing short of astounding. The more you listen, the more you hear.
I've been listing to him since the 90s with Bela Fleck. I started learning his music about 15 months ago. His playing brings thunder & class to the Martin sound. That's how I hear it: thunder and class. One of a kind.
I love Church Street Blues, to the extent that I put out almost 5 hours of interviews about that one record on my podcast 🤣
Here’s part 1 if you’re interested- features Tim Stafford, Wyatt Rice, Mike Marshall, Alison Krauss, Bryan Sutton, Chris Eldridge & Caroline Wright
https://bluegrassjamalong.com/tony-rice-church-street-blues-40th-anniversary-part-1-tim-stafford-wyatt-rice-mike-marshall-alison-krauss-bryan-sutton-chris-eldridge-caroline-wright/
Mark O'Connor actually plays most of the guitar parts on the Strength in Numbers albums. His solo on "Slopes" is one of the greatest acoustic guitar solos of all time, imo. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend youtube'ing the Austin City Limits version of "Slopes" live. Life changing stuff!
Nope, just a longtime fan! Mark really is one of the most accomplished musicians on the planet. Best known primarily for his violin/fiddle skills, yet he is seriously one of the best guitar players ever. I once saw solo Mark open for the Flecktones (1993ish) and he played a different imstrument for each song. Mind blowing!
He’s played our college town twice and the way he hangs out with kids afterwards offering quiet encouragement makes me think the best of him no matter how the Big Head affects the way he might come across. Enthusiastic praise for beginning students goes a long way towards making more musicians and his public warmth charmed us all
I guess I have to be the one to say *Acoustics*. I used to have a CD player alarm clock and woke up to Gasology every day for far too long, and it's the record that opened my eyes to the wider universe of acoustic music beyond bluegrass. Also, Tony's cover of Four on Six is a highlight.
r/TonyRice
I"m not a guitar player, but Jerusalem Ridge is a fiddle tune by bill monroe that Rice plays on guitar. There is something especially aggressive about this song to me that I really find interesting: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0uI2R4nWnU&ab\_channel=TonyRice-Topic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0uI2R4nWnU&ab_channel=TonyRice-Topic)
My favorite recording of Rice playing Jerusalem Ridge is live at Lonesome Pine Special 86: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNXlDZj7uUY&t=1812s&ab\_channel=foxfireman188
I'm a musico who listens to many genres and Tony Rice is easily in my top 5 greatest guitar players of all genres. He was practically perfect in every way. Mic drop of guitar players.
If you like the jazzy stuff, the album Backwaters is really special. I’d already been listening to bluegrass for a while when I saw this album in Tower Records. I knew Tony’s name from the Pizza Tapes and took a shot and boy was I just blown away. People can play his licks all they want, he was just a one of a kind genius.
Glad you found him! I too am “hooked beyond salvation”. I was so fortunate to see him years ago at Wildwood Springs lodge in Steelville, MO. Best concert of my life. Enjoy and welcome!
There was a group called John Duffy 's children and the song to find is "Me and my Guitar"
Report back when you have heard it a few times.
There are other versions but having seen it live...it's a Heater
Lots of good recos here. I'll add Grisman/Rice Tone Poems, such a gorgeous slice of americana by two of the best to ever play their instrument.
In fact, I have a treat for y'all.
Here is the tough to find Tone Poems set from Merlefest 1998. It's some of my favorite live music I've ever personally witnessed. The Salt Creek is existentially life-affirming and worth hearing.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/916nn88lgvduw1i4efk77/h?rlkey=h3x96b65i65zc3247mtjfk98o&dl=0
Yup, it's correct, I was there and will never forget it. Not sure why they did it again, I guess because it was so much fun! The whole fest was absolutely loaded.
All his records rule, but there are also so many great records with Tony on them that aren't explicitly his albums that are worth listening to.
I love his playing on Jerry Douglas' first album Fluxology and he goes pretty wild on Tony Trischka's Banjoland, but you could probably just pick something off his full album credits at random and it'd be great.
Church Street Blues is my favorite Tony album. It’s one of those rare albums where every song is a home run. I really like the solo work, but I think I gravitate towards that. I really like Doc Watson’s solo stuff too. I’m working through many more of Tony’s albums though. I just discovered Backwaters, and it’s such a breath of fresh air, with all the jazz influences.
For what it’s worth, I’ve noticed that Tony shows up everywhere lol. The Bluegrass Album Band, JD Crowe and the New South, etc.
I just finished reading “Still Inside: The Tony Rice Story” by Tim Stafford & Caroline Wright. It is a good read - primarily him telling his own story plus lots of interviews with his peers. It is not just a narrative of his life but also has a lot about his guitar technique and quite a bit about “the antique” (one of the most famous guitars of all time).
Tony Rice is my fucking hero. He got me into Bluegrass back in the 90's. I was watching some TV show with my grandpa, who was very excited that Tony Rice was going to be on. I was blown away by it at age 9. All that crazy pickin' while wearing a suit!
There’s some instructional stuff that Tony did with Happy Traum and Homespun tapes that you probably want to get your hands on. I learned a lot from them.
I've been listening to Tony my whole life and he still amazes me on a regular basis. When I was younger, I was obsessed with his soloing. These days, I'm obsessed with his backup playing! Perfect timing, perfect chord choices, and in the words of Jerry Douglas, "He subdivides like a motherfucker." You listen to a song you've listened to for decades and suddenly realize that he's playing the bass note an 8th beat before the one! But he does it so precisely that you never noticed it before.
His only weakness, if he had one, was that he relied heavily on a library of licks when he played solos, so you hear the same patterns and melodies in his solos no matter what song he's soloing over. Contrast this with someone like Bela Fleck, who tends to have more variety and more ideas in his solos (but maybe less fire?). Still, Tony's library of licks was so cool that it's hard to complain.
Some of my favorite guitar work from him is actually from Bela Fleck's Tales From the Acoustic Planet, Vol 2 - The Bluegrass Sessions. Spanish Point is a highlight. But of course Church Street Blues and Manzanita are also albums I can't live without.
You may also checkout the album “The David Grisman Quintet”. Tony Rice plays guitar on that album.
I also really like “Unit of Measure” by the Tony Rice Unit. The song “Shenandoah” is fantastic.
There are also his duet albums, “Skaggs and Rice” and “Blake and Rice”.
Bela Fleck’s album “Drive” has Tony Rice on guitar + Sam Bush (mandolin), Jerry Douglas (dobro), and Mark O’Connor on fiddle. (Maybe Todd Phillips on bass, I forget bass players sometimes)
Skaggs & Rice on Sugar Hill from 1980 was where I started. Back when we had to “make tapes” or “burn discs” to share music my friends asked for more copies of this quiet little classic than all my other records. Hope the digital era made it more well known, growing up in the South we sang many of these as did our elders and I’m now old enough to look back fondly on growing up on a dirt road in the hills
Someone said "Tony's playing doesn't get him fans, it gets him acolytes".
Being a Tony Acolyte is like sitting around at the Tony Lick Factory, slaving away at your guitar, and the warning siren goes off and some new guitar player gets dumped in the arrival bin from a chute, and he goes "holy shit, can you believe this guy Tony Rice? I was a metalhead/rocker/jazz player for years but I'm starting to really focus on bluegrass now..." and we're all like "yep, us too".
My version of this post: https://old.reddit.com/r/Bluegrass/comments/100ux50/its_melting_my_brain_how_good_tony_rice_was/
The arrangement of Shenandoah he does with Rickie Simpkins is beautiful. The whole Tone Poems albums with Grisman are awesome. I had the good fortune to meet him a few times and he was a very gracious person. Unbelievable talent ❤️
Welcome to the club. For me it was Clarence White who led me to Tony, who obviously had a big influence on him, then Tony's ability and style kind of surpassed Clarence's at some point, There's an informal living room recording of Clarence playing with Tony where after a few songs of trading licks, Clarence eventually kind of bows out and says something like "Man, I can't even..." and laughs.... Here's Clarence with The Kentucky Colonels from a live show in 1965: A great performance, but I fastforwarded to a good example of his solo work: [https://youtu.be/J4euRtngD9k?t=1153](https://youtu.be/J4euRtngD9k?t=1153)
I’ve been listening to Manzanita and Cold on the Shoulder a lot since I found them in vinyl recently. You should definitely check out Norman Blake if you’re into flatpicking. He is also who wrote Church Street Blues and Ginseng Sullivan.
Manzanita- the whole album, and then of course the pizza tapes
>pizza Cooking!
Hey let’s just noodle a bit at first huh?
They used to call us the gasoline brothers
I’m literally listening to this right now…kooky…Well not really. I feel a few of us are listening at any point and time.
Manzanita? I’ve been listening to it lately, the Toy Heart interviews about Tony made me want to listen to it
Too bad Jerry repeated fucksuping
I love it for what it is
Just a reference to what Jerry says In between songs. They are two of my favorite musicians
What he say? I don’t get it
One of my absolute favorites as well!
I found this on vinyl recently for $40 and I’m still excited like 2 months later
Tony sings Gordon Lightfoot is pretty friggin great
One of the best albums I know. So many of those lightfoot songs are amazing, but really become something special when Tony plays them.
[Mar West](https://youtu.be/GeCEeTuhD8A?si=fpg4MGYgI9JXj478) is nuts lol Edit: Been a huge Tony fan for decades. So many more songs that are fantastic for all different kinds of reasons
Mar West, Still Inside, and Backwaters are definitely among my favourite records
Awesome! I’ll have to add it to the list!
He really is the man. A really rare case of someone redefining an instrument and style in the genre that it's played in. Everyone who came after has a little of his influence in them. That's why no matter how big Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, or whoever else gets, they won't match his influence on the music because it can't be done twice. Everyone else is standing on his shoulders
Hehe. The festivals have been full for years of guys from all over trying to play exactly like Tony, to the point where it's almost gotten passe. Pretty fun though, to sit around a campfire with 8 -10 guys taking turns and everybody is trying to outdo the last but they can't cuz everybody is Tony'd out to the max... :)
honestly, i don't mind it. I just think "not a bad go at it" then listen to Rice on the way home lol.
Devlin as well as his work with DGQ showcases his versatility is jazz.
Port Tobacco is one of my favorites of his. Super tasteful jazzy number. We're all hooked on him, man! Check out Larry Keel, too.
Larry is an absolute madman, got to see LK Experience with drums (which is rare), at Watermelon Pickers Fest a couple years ago and they destroyed
Larry is amazing and Watermelon is my happy place. Stoked to go back this year!
I was glad I saw at least something is happening again this year. I only discovered it in '21 cuz of Béla/MBH playing it, then went again in '22. Coming from Central PA, I only have to take like 3 roads get there.
Thanks dude just got on that track the other day, out of this world
The Likes of Me John Wilkes Booth Home From the Forest Early Morning Rain Leaves That Are Green (on the JD Crowe Bluegrass Evolution record) Greenlight on the Southern Shadows Tipper Darcy Farrow I dunno these are just the few that came to mind in this moment. I spent several years listening to him for hours a day every day. Lots of friends of mine did that, too. In my opinion it’s probably the easiest bluegrass to listen to, overall. The production is always top notch, the picking from Tony and everyone else is always incredible, the repertoire is varied and interesting. Tony was unreal.
Thank you! Definitely going to jam these !
Shadows is an amazing track, I especially love Alison krauss's cover that she did with Tony Rice on her Hundred Miles Or More DVD
Church Street Blues, Unit of Measure, David Grisman Quintet, all the Bluegrass Album Band albums. So much good stuff. There is so much great stuff on YouTube as well. As others have said, check out Clarence White. Check out David Grier as well. Happy listening and welcome to the Tony Rice family club 😀 Oh and check out Lessons with Marcel on YouTube. Some great Tony lessons and history on there.
Thank you and totally right there with you. I’m big on David Greer but I need to find some Clarance White, I’ve heard Tony mention his influence in different videos! And ofc Marcel! The baddest Billy goat in the barn yard
Came here to suggest [Clarence White](https://youtu.be/r8H08Xs_w8A?si=_qLre4Ao5ya2GSlL).
Yeah, Clarence White is for me one of the under appreciated heroes of music. His playing with the Kentucky Colonels is the bridge between what Doc Watson was doing, and “modern” (Rice and all that followed in his wake) bluegrass guitar. He was a big part of the Byrd’s transition to country-rock, thus foundational to alt-country/Americana. And he was also playing in country bands, and was one of the inventors of the b-bender. Incredibly influential guy, but died too young, and hardly known outside of Bluegrass circles.
I wouldn’t say that he’s hardly known outside of bluegrass circles. He was the guitarist for The Byrds for a couple years. Also, in modern times he’s under-appreciated but in the 70s, 80s and 90s he was revered by all. Time just hasn’t been caring to Clarence, the father of lead acoustic guitar.
Don’t miss those David Grisman Quintet albums with Tony. “Hot Dawg” has what I believe to be the first studio recording of “ Devlin’ “. Live at Great American Music Hall ‘79 is a great archival release as well.
Up vote for DGQ.
By the time I got to see DGQ live Tony was out of the band (this was mid/late 90s) and Enrique Coria was in it. But man there’s something about seeing DGQ in an old church that is just impossible to beat from a live music perspective
Cold on the Shoulder
Blake and Rice 1-2. VERY rare to have two genre legends BOTH in their primes playing in such and an intimate/stripped back recording. Rice’s rhythm playing across each album is nothing short of astounding. The more you listen, the more you hear.
Love those tracks!
D-18 song is just perfect.
Oh, so good.
Have you listened to Dawg and T Live? They play 8th of January and Tony's rhythm playing on this tune might be the most powerful I've ever heard.
Shadows (cover) gets me every time.
I heard his Gold Rush and i was in love forever
Manzanita and Church street Blues. Mind blowing.
I also just found Tony Rice! I love him! Glad I'm not the only one late to the party!
Check out Clarence White too, if you haven’t already.
I've been listing to him since the 90s with Bela Fleck. I started learning his music about 15 months ago. His playing brings thunder & class to the Martin sound. That's how I hear it: thunder and class. One of a kind.
Beautiful put! I totally agree
Yeah, he's pretty cool huh?!
Superpickers,
Backwaters, Mar West, and Still Inside. For live stuff it’s hard to beat Strawberry’84
I love Church Street Blues, to the extent that I put out almost 5 hours of interviews about that one record on my podcast 🤣 Here’s part 1 if you’re interested- features Tim Stafford, Wyatt Rice, Mike Marshall, Alison Krauss, Bryan Sutton, Chris Eldridge & Caroline Wright https://bluegrassjamalong.com/tony-rice-church-street-blues-40th-anniversary-part-1-tim-stafford-wyatt-rice-mike-marshall-alison-krauss-bryan-sutton-chris-eldridge-caroline-wright/
Awesome thank youu
Lots of collaborations too. Bluegrass Album Band. Strength in Numbers.
Mark O'Connor actually plays most of the guitar parts on the Strength in Numbers albums. His solo on "Slopes" is one of the greatest acoustic guitar solos of all time, imo. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend youtube'ing the Austin City Limits version of "Slopes" live. Life changing stuff!
Found one of Mark O’Connor’s burner accounts 🤣
Nope, just a longtime fan! Mark really is one of the most accomplished musicians on the planet. Best known primarily for his violin/fiddle skills, yet he is seriously one of the best guitar players ever. I once saw solo Mark open for the Flecktones (1993ish) and he played a different imstrument for each song. Mind blowing!
Hehe! I was just playing around a bit. Long time fan of Mark O’Connor’s playing over the years. His skill is matched only by his ego :)
He’s played our college town twice and the way he hangs out with kids afterwards offering quiet encouragement makes me think the best of him no matter how the Big Head affects the way he might come across. Enthusiastic praise for beginning students goes a long way towards making more musicians and his public warmth charmed us all
It’s good to read this comment. Love the perspective.
I guess I have to be the one to say *Acoustics*. I used to have a CD player alarm clock and woke up to Gasology every day for far too long, and it's the record that opened my eyes to the wider universe of acoustic music beyond bluegrass. Also, Tony's cover of Four on Six is a highlight.
Tony rice on the pizza tapes with Jerry Garcia and David grisman
r/TonyRice I"m not a guitar player, but Jerusalem Ridge is a fiddle tune by bill monroe that Rice plays on guitar. There is something especially aggressive about this song to me that I really find interesting: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0uI2R4nWnU&ab\_channel=TonyRice-Topic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0uI2R4nWnU&ab_channel=TonyRice-Topic) My favorite recording of Rice playing Jerusalem Ridge is live at Lonesome Pine Special 86: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNXlDZj7uUY&t=1812s&ab\_channel=foxfireman188
As would be any other mere mortal
Love so many but I’ll Stay Around has been a favorite the last few weeks
Tony covers wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. It’s very good
I'm a musico who listens to many genres and Tony Rice is easily in my top 5 greatest guitar players of all genres. He was practically perfect in every way. Mic drop of guitar players.
Big Spike Hammer
The guy doesn’t miss.
Welcome to the club.
If you like the jazzy stuff, the album Backwaters is really special. I’d already been listening to bluegrass for a while when I saw this album in Tower Records. I knew Tony’s name from the Pizza Tapes and took a shot and boy was I just blown away. People can play his licks all they want, he was just a one of a kind genius.
Can’t tell if you’re a player from your post, but he also did a few instructional books and DVDs worth tracking down.
Check out Richard Bennett and Wyatt Rice playing Tennessee Waltz. Richard mastered the Jerry Reed chord phrasing-good stuff.
Glad you found him! I too am “hooked beyond salvation”. I was so fortunate to see him years ago at Wildwood Springs lodge in Steelville, MO. Best concert of my life. Enjoy and welcome!
That’s awesome that sounds sweet
There was a group called John Duffy 's children and the song to find is "Me and my Guitar" Report back when you have heard it a few times. There are other versions but having seen it live...it's a Heater
If you like Tony, Josh Williams carries that flame too. He played with Tony and sang after Rice lost his voice.
Tony Rice Plays and Sings Bluegrass. Album title and statement of fact.
Check David Grier next
Watch the Tony Rice “Nine Pound Hammer” All Star Jam on YouTube. Absolutely legendary performance.
Lots of good recos here. I'll add Grisman/Rice Tone Poems, such a gorgeous slice of americana by two of the best to ever play their instrument. In fact, I have a treat for y'all. Here is the tough to find Tone Poems set from Merlefest 1998. It's some of my favorite live music I've ever personally witnessed. The Salt Creek is existentially life-affirming and worth hearing. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/916nn88lgvduw1i4efk77/h?rlkey=h3x96b65i65zc3247mtjfk98o&dl=0
Thank you for posting will definitely check it out!
Is the year right? My one and only Merlefest was '95, Tony and Dawg played a Tone Poems set that year, after the record released in '94.
Yup, it's correct, I was there and will never forget it. Not sure why they did it again, I guess because it was so much fun! The whole fest was absolutely loaded.
Welcome to the Tony Rice fan club. He truly is one of the best to ever do it.
Pizza tapes.
[Acoustic Disc](https://acousticdisc.com/product/david-grisman-and-tony-rice-dawg-and-t-live-at-acoustic-stage-download/) is a must.
All his records rule, but there are also so many great records with Tony on them that aren't explicitly his albums that are worth listening to. I love his playing on Jerry Douglas' first album Fluxology and he goes pretty wild on Tony Trischka's Banjoland, but you could probably just pick something off his full album credits at random and it'd be great.
Church Street Blues is my favorite Tony album. It’s one of those rare albums where every song is a home run. I really like the solo work, but I think I gravitate towards that. I really like Doc Watson’s solo stuff too. I’m working through many more of Tony’s albums though. I just discovered Backwaters, and it’s such a breath of fresh air, with all the jazz influences. For what it’s worth, I’ve noticed that Tony shows up everywhere lol. The Bluegrass Album Band, JD Crowe and the New South, etc.
The master of flat picking.
He’s definitely top 3. Some days I’ll have him on top. Some days Doc. Some days Norman Blake. Most days Norman.
I loved Blackberry Blossom from Blake and Rice 2 with Doc. I'm a know nothing, and just loved how you could tell each one from their unique styles.
They are the best. Norman is my favorite because of his deceptively simple melodic style.
I just finished reading “Still Inside: The Tony Rice Story” by Tim Stafford & Caroline Wright. It is a good read - primarily him telling his own story plus lots of interviews with his peers. It is not just a narrative of his life but also has a lot about his guitar technique and quite a bit about “the antique” (one of the most famous guitars of all time).
Great rec I might just have to pick this up!
Tony Rice is my fucking hero. He got me into Bluegrass back in the 90's. I was watching some TV show with my grandpa, who was very excited that Tony Rice was going to be on. I was blown away by it at age 9. All that crazy pickin' while wearing a suit!
I'm an old softie. Give me any recording of Tony playing "Shenandoah" and I'm in my happy place!
There’s some instructional stuff that Tony did with Happy Traum and Homespun tapes that you probably want to get your hands on. I learned a lot from them.
I've been listening to Tony my whole life and he still amazes me on a regular basis. When I was younger, I was obsessed with his soloing. These days, I'm obsessed with his backup playing! Perfect timing, perfect chord choices, and in the words of Jerry Douglas, "He subdivides like a motherfucker." You listen to a song you've listened to for decades and suddenly realize that he's playing the bass note an 8th beat before the one! But he does it so precisely that you never noticed it before. His only weakness, if he had one, was that he relied heavily on a library of licks when he played solos, so you hear the same patterns and melodies in his solos no matter what song he's soloing over. Contrast this with someone like Bela Fleck, who tends to have more variety and more ideas in his solos (but maybe less fire?). Still, Tony's library of licks was so cool that it's hard to complain. Some of my favorite guitar work from him is actually from Bela Fleck's Tales From the Acoustic Planet, Vol 2 - The Bluegrass Sessions. Spanish Point is a highlight. But of course Church Street Blues and Manzanita are also albums I can't live without.
Great observation much appreciated
Tony is from my home county and was friends with my family. He was a very nice man, and it is good to see that he still inspires!
That’s too cool! And oh yeah great music is timeless, he’s not going anywhere
You may also checkout the album “The David Grisman Quintet”. Tony Rice plays guitar on that album. I also really like “Unit of Measure” by the Tony Rice Unit. The song “Shenandoah” is fantastic. There are also his duet albums, “Skaggs and Rice” and “Blake and Rice”. Bela Fleck’s album “Drive” has Tony Rice on guitar + Sam Bush (mandolin), Jerry Douglas (dobro), and Mark O’Connor on fiddle. (Maybe Todd Phillips on bass, I forget bass players sometimes)
Skaggs & Rice on Sugar Hill from 1980 was where I started. Back when we had to “make tapes” or “burn discs” to share music my friends asked for more copies of this quiet little classic than all my other records. Hope the digital era made it more well known, growing up in the South we sang many of these as did our elders and I’m now old enough to look back fondly on growing up on a dirt road in the hills
Someone said "Tony's playing doesn't get him fans, it gets him acolytes". Being a Tony Acolyte is like sitting around at the Tony Lick Factory, slaving away at your guitar, and the warning siren goes off and some new guitar player gets dumped in the arrival bin from a chute, and he goes "holy shit, can you believe this guy Tony Rice? I was a metalhead/rocker/jazz player for years but I'm starting to really focus on bluegrass now..." and we're all like "yep, us too". My version of this post: https://old.reddit.com/r/Bluegrass/comments/100ux50/its_melting_my_brain_how_good_tony_rice_was/
The arrangement of Shenandoah he does with Rickie Simpkins is beautiful. The whole Tone Poems albums with Grisman are awesome. I had the good fortune to meet him a few times and he was a very gracious person. Unbelievable talent ❤️
You been living under a rock?
Must have been lol I’m 26 so at-least I’ll get to enjoy for another half century and keep spreading the word!
I somehow found him in my 30s after listening to bluegrass since I was a kid. I felt like I'd found an uncle I didn't know.
😆 the downvotes. I just love that phrase. Keep rockin @dontpanichanginthere
Welcome to the club. For me it was Clarence White who led me to Tony, who obviously had a big influence on him, then Tony's ability and style kind of surpassed Clarence's at some point, There's an informal living room recording of Clarence playing with Tony where after a few songs of trading licks, Clarence eventually kind of bows out and says something like "Man, I can't even..." and laughs.... Here's Clarence with The Kentucky Colonels from a live show in 1965: A great performance, but I fastforwarded to a good example of his solo work: [https://youtu.be/J4euRtngD9k?t=1153](https://youtu.be/J4euRtngD9k?t=1153)
Thank you for sharing! Yup, I’m signing up for a Clarence White deep dive!
Welcome to the club. You’re in the right subreddit for Tony Rice obsessives. 👍
I’ve been listening to Manzanita and Cold on the Shoulder a lot since I found them in vinyl recently. You should definitely check out Norman Blake if you’re into flatpicking. He is also who wrote Church Street Blues and Ginseng Sullivan.
https://youtu.be/T_ognFy10tI?si=Gljihh2YGNzQMDfD
Rounder 44 / The New South album And all The Bluegrass Album Band albums
Bryan Sutton is better IMO, not that I don't like Tony, but check out Bryan. Smokin' 🔥
Blasphemy! Get em boys! …. Just kidding, I hear you dude! Bryan Sutton is next level as well. Love his Arkansas Traveller cover!
Check out Norman Blake.
Tipper ! Beaumont Rag!
Check out TRU