Tony Rice - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

Hal Leonard Tony Rice Teaches Bluegrass Book/CD Things To Know Before You Get This

Everyone, it appeared, played like Tony, or at least they played a somewhat streamlined variation of his design focused around his signature bluesy hot licks. However the problem with a musical style specified by copycats is that it's easy to forget what the original sounded like. Yes, everybody played Tony's hot licks, but nobody played the method he used "Church Street Blues" or "Faded Love" or "Blue Railroad Train," unless they were attempting to play his solos verbatim.

When I signed up with Laurie Lewis's band the main thing I needed to work on was playing solid, effective rhythm, so I listened to a great deal of rhythm guitar players, including, obviously, Tony. However one close listen to Tony's playing informed me that he need to not be a model for my rhythm playing.

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Ted Lehmann's Film, Books, Music & Commentary: Still Inside: The Tony Rice Story - Book Review

Tony's rhythm playing drove the bands he had fun with; his guitar said "this is how it goes, follow me." I, nevertheless, being a somewhat unskilled bluegrass rhythm guitarist, needed to discover a way to suit a band that currently had a balanced director; my function was to assist make all the instruments in the band gel.

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Which made me go back and listen to some of the records I 'd neglected, particularly Church Street Blues and the very first duet record he made with Norman Blake, but likewise some of his "singer-songwriter" records like Native American and Me and My Guitar. As The Most Complete Run-Down was on the roadway a lot at the time, I was lucky sufficient to hear Tony live at festivals a couple of times a year, with the Tony Rice Unit (at that time the version with his brother Wyatt on rhythm guitar, Jimmy Gaudreau on mandolin, and Mark Schatz on bass) however also in various all-star celebration bands, generally including Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Bla Fleck, Mark Schatz, and either Mark O'Connor, Stuart Duncan, or Vassar Clements on fiddle.

Vocal problems needed Tony to stop singing in the mid-'90s, and while this was a tragedy for his fans, it should have been extremely challenging and demoralizing for him. I don't believe I understood how much till he told me one night, after sitting in with Tim O'Brien's band (which I played guitar with from 1992 to 1997), "I envy you.