Tony Rice spans the
range of acoustic music, from straight-ahead bluegrass to
jazz-influenced new acoustic music, to songwriter-oriented folk. He is
perhaps the greatest innovator in acoustic flatpicked guitar since
Clarence White. Over the course of his career, he has played alongside
J.D. Crowe and the New South, David Grisman (during the formation of
“Dawg Music”), led his own groups, collaborated with fellow picker
Norman Blake and recorded with his brothers. He has recorded with
drums, piano, soprano sax, and with straight-ahead bluegrass
instrumentation.
Rice was born in Danville, Virginia but grew up in California,
where he was introduced to bluegrass by his father. He and his brothers
learned a lot from hot L.A. pickers like the Kentucky Colonels, led by
Roland and Clarence White. Crossing paths with fellow enthusiasts like
Ry Cooder, Herb Pederson and Chris Hillman reinforced the strength of
the music he had learned from his father.
In 1970, Rice had moved back to Kentucky where he played with the
Bluegrass Alliance, and shortly thereafter, J.D. Crowe’s New South.
The New South was known as one of the best and most progressive
bluegrass groups - even adding drums and electric instruments. But when
Ricky Skaggs joined up in 1974, the band recorded J.D. Crowe & the
New South, an acoustic album that became Rounder’s top-seller up to that
time. With Rice on guitar and vocals, Crowe on banjo and vocals, Jerry
Douglas on Dobro, Skaggs on fiddle and mandolin and Bobby Slone on
bass, the band’s energy, as well as their instrumental and vocal drive
have rarely been matched.
Around this time Rice met
mandolinist David Grisman, who played with Red Allen during the ‘60’s
and was now working on some original material that blended jazz,
bluegrass and classical styles. Rice left the New South and moved to
California to join Grisman’s all instrumental group. As part of the
David Grisman Quintet, Rice expanded his horizons beyond three chord
bluegrass, studying chord theory, learning to read charts and expanding
the range of his playing.
In 1979, he left the group to
pursue his own music. He recorded Acoustics, a guitar-oriented record,
and then Manzanita which collected some favorite folk and bluegrass
vocals. In 1980, Rice, Crowe, Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson and Todd
Phillips formed a highly successful coalition, attacking bluegrass
standards under the name the Bluegrass Album Band. This group has
recorded six volumes of music.
Tony’s solo career hit its stride with Cold on the Shoulder, a
collection of bluegrass vocals. With this album, Native American and Me
& My Guitar, Rice arrived at a formula that incorporated his
disparate influences, combining bluegrass, the songwriting of folk
artists like Ian Tyson, Joni Mitchell, Phil Ochs and especially Gordon
Lightfoot, with nimble, jazz-inflected guitar work. Simultaneously, he
pursued his jazz and experimental “spacegrass” with the Tony Rice Unit
on Mar West, Still Inside and Backwaters.
Two highly regarded albums with
traditional guitar virtuoso Norman Blake gained a great deal of acclaim,
as well as two Rice Brother albums that reunited him with his younger
brother, Wyatt. Tony Rice remains one of bluegrass’ top
instrumentalists and singers, bringing originality and vitality to
everything he plays.
Source: Tony Rice.com.
