Tony Rice

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Tony Rice 2005

David Anthony "Tony" Rice (born June 8, 1951 in Danville , Virginia , † December 25, 2020 in Reidsville , North Carolina ) was an American bluegrass musician who was one of the best guitarists of his genre from the 1970s has been.

Life

Beginnings

Tony Rice, who grew up in California , was musically influenced by his father Herb Rice, who was a member of the bluegrass band The Golden State Boys . Together with his older brother Larry , Tony learned to play the guitar and performed in his father's band. The first role model outside of his own family was the bluegrass legend Clarence White .

Career as a band musician

In 1970 he moved to Kentucky , where he joined the " Bluegrass Alliance ", which was formed in the late 1960s and soon became one of the leading bluegrass bands. Here he learned from the renowned guitarist Dan Crary , who was one of the founding members of the Bluegrass Alliance. A year later he moved to JD Crowe 's Band, which is considered to be the pioneer of a progressive bluegrass, and in which his brother Larry played the mandolin . The high point of these years was the recording of the commercially successful album JD Crowe & the New South, on which Ricky Skaggs also participated. In 1974 he played with the Dixie Ramblers of Moline, Illinois. Rice not only excelled as a guitarist, but also excelled as a singer with an expressive voice.

In 1975 he returned to the West Coast and joined the San Francisco- based David Grisman Quintet , which played a purely instrumental mix of jazz and bluegrass. During these years he made the greatest musical progress. Band member John Carlini became the new model .

Career as a soloist

In the late 1970s, Rice left David Grisman and began to record a series of his own albums - partly supported by his backing band, the "Tony Rice Unit". In 1980 he founded the supergroup " Bluegrass Album Band " with JD Crowe, Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson and Todd Phillips , which met at longer intervals to make music together. A total of six albums were produced by 1996, numbered from Bluegrass Album, Vol. 1 to Bluegrass Album, Vol. 6 .

During these years he worked with many greats on the scene, including Béla Fleck and Ricky Skaggs. Several successful albums were produced with Peter Rowan and veterans Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen . He also released albums with his brothers Larry, Wyatt and Ronnie as "The Rice Brothers". Joint recordings with Norman Blake and Alison Krauss also became known . Due to vocal problems, he increasingly concentrated on playing guitar. Rice died on December 25, 2020 at the age of 69.

Discography

Albums

  • 1977: Tony Rice
  • 1979: Acoustics
  • 1979: Manzanita
  • 1979: Hot Dawg (with David Grisman)
  • 1980: Mar West (as Tony Rice Unit)
  • 1980: Skaggs & Rice (with Ricky Skaggs)
  • 1981: Bluegrass Album (as Bluegrass Album Band)
  • 1981: Still Inside (as Tony Rice Unit)
  • 1982: Backwaters (as Tony Rice Unit)
  • 1982: Bluegrass Album, Vol. 2 (as Bluegrass Album Band)
  • 1983: Bluegrass Album, Vol. 3 (as Bluegrass Album Band)
  • 1983: Church Street Blues
  • 1984: Bluegrass Album, Vol. 4 (as Bluegrass Album Band)
  • 1984: Cold on the Shoulder
  • 1986: Me & My Guitar
  • 1987: Devlin (as Tony Rice Unit)
  • 1987: Blake & Rice
  • 1987: Norman Blake and Tony Rice 2 (with Norman Blake)
  • 1988: Native American
  • 1989: Bluegrass Album, Vol. 5 (as Bluegrass Album Band)
  • 1992: The Rice Brothers (as The Rice Brothers)
  • 1993: Plays and Sings Bluegrass
  • 1994: Tone Poems (with David Grisman)
  • 1994: Crossings
  • 1994: The Rice Brothers 2 (as The Rice Brothers)
  • 1995: River Suite for Two Guitars (with John Carlini)
  • 1996: Sings Gordon Lightfoot
  • 1996: Bluegrass Album, Vol. 6 (as Bluegrass Album Band)
  • 1997: Out of the Woodwork (as Rice, Rice, Hillman & Pedersen)
  • 1999: Rice, Rice, Hillman & Pedersen (as Rice, Rice, Hillman & Pedersen)
  • 2000: Unit of Measure (as Tony Rice Unit)
  • 2000: The Pizza Tapes (with David Grisman & Jerry Garcia)
  • 2001: Runnin 'Wild (as Rice, Rice, Hillman & Pedersen)
  • 2003: The Bluegrass Guitar Collection
  • 2004: You Were There for Me (with Peter Rowan)
  • 2007: Quartet (with Peter Rowan)
  • 2008: Night Flyer: The Singer Songwriter Collection

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tony Rice passes on Bluegrass Today on December 26, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Rice, Tony
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rice, David Anthony (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American bluegrass musician
DATE OF BIRTH June 8, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Danville , Virginia
DATE OF DEATH December 25, 2020
Place of death Reidsville , North Carolina