Many purists sniffed at the diverse set list and freewheeling arrangements of “0044,” but 45 years later fans still celebrate the album. It ranks among the reasons that bluegrass freely accepts experimentation today.
Meanwhile, J.D. Crowe had hired Tony’s older brother Larry to play mandolin. In an interview from his home near Lexington, Kentucky, Crowe toldthat it wasn’t long before he enlisted Tony too. On Labor Day weekend of 1971, Tony played his last gig with the Bluegrass Alliance at the bluegrass festival in Camp Springs, North Carolina, which would be filmed by director Albert Ihde for his 1972 documentary.
“We were not only pickers together, we were friends. Losing Tony was like losing a brother.” – J.D. Crowe With Grisman, Rice studied musical theory and flourished as the band carried his beloved bluegrass into the jazz realm, factors that moved him to go out on his own as the Tony Rice Unit in 1979. Originally conceived of as an instrumental group, the band would go on to record several albums for Rounder, including 1979’s highly regarded, which blended jazz, folk, and bluegrass and featured his former bandmates Ricky Skaggs and Sam Bush.
Becoming the teacher that Crowe and Grisman had been to him, Rice allowed sidemen to prosper. “Without a doubt, it was the most educational experience that I’ve had in music,” says Gaudreau. “As far as getting to know my instrument better, becoming a more proficient player and developing an appreciation for where music can go — he showed me the way. He showed me that there are ways to play music that are based in tradition but that you can put your own stamp on.
Gaudreau saw Rice’s reckoning with his deteriorating heath at the 1994 Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival where Rice and Ricky Skaggs and other members of the New South performed a reunion concert. “His voice was already giving out,” Gaudreau says. “It was raspy. For a couple of years he had pushed it harder and harder until it couldn’t function anymore. On that particular show, he looked at Ricky and kind of shook his head and when he came off stage.
R.I.P 💔David Anthony Rice, dit Tony Rice, né le 8 juin 1951 à Danville en Virginie et mort le 25 décembre 2020 à Reidsville, est un guitariste américain de musique bluegrass.
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