Tony Rice, certainly the most influential guitarist and vocalist in the history of bluegrass music, died on Christmas morning. He was 69 and died quickly, without pain.
Tony forever changed the way the bluegrass guitar is played, both as a main instrument and as an accompaniment instrument. The public saw evidence of her genius during her time with the Bluegrass Alliance in the early 1970s, but she appeared fully formed with JD Crowe & The New South in 1975 on her classic recording for Rounder Records, known colloquially for its catalog number, 0044.
Those of us who were lucky to be alive at that time will clearly remember the first time we heard it. At the end of the introduction of the banjo for Old house, it was obvious that something new and different was happening. Rice’s guitar filled the track from top to bottom and side to side with an aggressive rhythmic style that united the power of Jimmy Martin and Del McCoury, with the dexterity and grace of Clarence White. This boosted the band like nothing we had heard before.
And then he started to sing! His deep baritone voice crackled with soul and turned that Dillards song into bluegrass majesty. Throughout his career of several decades, Tony Rice’s voice has become a favorite in and around bluegrass, a rare treat combined with someone with such unique instrumental ability.
He showed these skills in Old house also, establishing a sizzling mid-break near the end of the song that made flatpickers scratch their heads in wonder. There was more throughout the record, and in many others released over a 40-year career, until arthritis took away his ability to play proficiently, just as a condition of the nervous system had stolen his voice a decade earlier.
Although not the first, nor the only musician tto play solo guitar in bluegrass, Rice’s contribution may well be compared to that of Earl Scruggs, whose picks revolutionized music when he joined Bill Monroe in 1945. Currently, solos are expected of every bluegrass guitarist, and there are no live bluegrass guitarist who would not claim Tony as a primary influence.
Shortly after participating in 0044, Tony left Crowe’s band and moved to California to be part of David Grisman’s new experimental sound, mixing gypsy jazz with elements of bluegrass. Rice was as vital a part of shaping this new style as Scruggs had been in Monroe’s definition thirty years earlier. After leaving Grisman, Tony released a series of critically acclaimed albums with his own Tony Rice Unit, imitating many parts of Grisman’s “Dawg music”, but with a different, more moderate and jazz-oriented vibe.
He also appeared in seminal projects like Skaggs and rice in 1980, still among the best-selling bluegrass records of all time, his own solo project, Church Street Blues in 1983, and what many consider his most valuable and definitive work, Manzanita, in 1979. Not to mention the series of albums under the title The Bluegrass Album Band, alongside other legends like Doyle Lawson, JD Crowe, Bobby Hicks and Todd Phillips who defined what contemporary bluegrass style was like in the 1980s.
It would be difficult to overstate Tony Rice’s importance in bluegrass and acoustic string music. Suffice it to say that, without your participation, it would sound very different from what it sounds today. A monumental figure in music, we will not see people like him again for some time.
Details on funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.
RIP, Tony Rice.