On Christmas Day last month the Bluegrass world lost a true legend, when Tony Rice passed away. Rice is arguably the best bluegrass guitarist ever!
I confess that through the 70s and 80s I knew who he was , but never listened much to the groups in which he was a member. Progressive bluegrass groups like J D Crowe and the New South and the David Grisman Quintet.
EK Finds Cold on the Shoulder amongst his Vinyl….
I probably became aware of Tony and his fantastic guitar in the mid to late 80s. Most likely it was through Gene Shay’s folk radio show here in Philly. Anyway, I bought two of his solo albums Cold on the Shoulder and Me & My Guitar at a used record store at the now defunct Pennsauken Mart.
I found those two records the other day, when I started to organize my vinyl collection by genre. I am counting listening to Cold on the Shoulder as day seven of my 30-day Folk Music Challenge.
Needless to say, it sounded great. It is also just a coincidence that it has the same title song as day ones pick.
While reading the back of the album, I discovered this was the first album Tony recorded consisting of all vocal tracks. While there are no all instrumental tracks on the album, Rice picked songs that allowed space for individual solos.
The space for solos is filled with a group of outstanding musicians. If I didn’t know who Tony Rice was i would have bought this album just on the people who play on it.
An Amazing Supporting Cast
The supporting cast includes:
Vassar Clement – fiddle
Jerry Douglas – dobro
Todd Phillips -bass
Sam Bush – mandolin
Bobby Hicks – fiddle
Larry Rice – mandolin
J D Crowe – banjo
Kate Wolf – harmony vocals
Bela Fleck – banjo
What a fantastic line-up of musicians! And several times while I was listening to this album I stopped what I was doing and said. “Wow”.
Rice, Rice, Hillman and Pederson
My next contact with Tony Rice’s music was when he became part of the group – Rice,Rice, Hillman and Pederaon. I added their album Out of the Woodwork to my music library. The group consisted of: Tony, his brother Larry, Chris Hillman from The Byrds, Manassas, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Herb Pederson. The group only released three albums and I need to check out the other two!
The bottom line is that Tony Rice was a great talent and his passing is a great loss for the folk and bluegrass community.
If you’ve never listened to Tony’s music do it. As for me I want to check out some of his earlier solo albums, along with the J.D. Crowe and David Grisman albums!!
Links for Further Explorations
Wikipedia
NPR: Tony Rice Was My Guitar Hero
Rolling Stone: Was Bluegrass Music’s Great Experimentalist
Spotify
In addition to the above, after watching the following video I need to check out any albums from the Tony Rice Unit…. four of my favorite musicians!!
