TONY RICE
- From Danville, Virginia. Grew up in southern California, near L.A.
- Considered one of the greatest flatpick guitar players of all time. Until he lost his voice in the 1990’s, he was also considered one of bluegrass music’s top lead singers.
- Main influence: Clarence White whom he met in 1963. (Tony owns Clarence’s Martin D-28).
- 1970, left California to join the Louisville-based Bluegrass Alliance.
- 1971, joined his brother Larry in J.D. Crowe’s band, The Kentucky Mountain Boys (later re-named The New South). While with this band, he recorded one of the most important bluegrass albums of all time: J.D. Crowe & The New South
(1973, Rounder).
- 1975, joined the The David Grisman Quintet, playing jazz-oriented “Dawg Music.”
- 1977, released Tony Rice
album (Rounder).
- 1978, released Guitar
album (Rebel).
- 1978, released landmark Manzanita
album (Rounder), the first bluegrass album without a banjo.
- 1980, recorded a classic album of duets with Ricky Skaggs Skaggs & Rice: The Essential Old-Time Country Duet Recordings
(Sugar Hill).
- 1981, arranged the first Bluegrass Album Band recording with friends Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Bobby Hicks, and Todd Phillips. The album sold so well, five more were recorded and the ensemble won the IBMA award for Instrumental Group of the Year (1990).
- 1983, released Church Street Blues
album (Sugar Hill).
- 1984, released Cold On The Shoulder
album (Rounder).
- 1985, formed his own band, The Tony Rice Unit.
- 1987, released and album of duets with guitarist Norman Blake Blake & Rice
(Rounder). This was followed up with Blake & Rice 2
(1990, Rounder).
- 1988, released Me & My Guitar
album (Rounder).
- 1993, his home in Florida was destroyed in a hurricane. His guitar was underwater for three hours, but Tony dried it out very slowly and reported that “it sounds better than ever.”
- 1993, participated in a recording session at David Grisman’s Dawg Studios in Berkeley, California with Grisman and Jerry Garcia. The recordings were later released as The Pizza Tapes (Acoustic Disk).
- 1994, developed voice problems, a malady called Muscle Tension Dysphonia and was forced to curtail his singing.
- 1995, the Tony Rice Unit won the IBMA award for Instrumental Group of the Year.
- 1996, released Tony Rice Sings Gordon Lightfoot album (Rounder), his last featuring vocals.
- His hobbies: photography and collecting/repairing old watches.
- 1997, 2000, recorded and performed with brother Larry, Chris Hillman and Herb Pederson as Out of the Woodwork and also as Rice, Rice, Hillman and Pederson.
- 1998, released Native American
album (Rounder).
- 1998, released Tony Rice Plays And Sings Bluegrass
album (Rounder).
- 2000, released The Bluegrass Guitar Collection
album (Rounder).
- 2001, began performing and recording with Peter Rowan. Released Quartet
album (Rounder) and You Were There for Me album (Rounder).
- 2007, won his fifth IBMA award for Guitar Player of the Year (also won in 1990, 1991, 1994 and 1997).
- 2008, worked dates with Mountain Heart.
- 2010, his biography Still Inside: The Tony Rice Story
was was published, co-authored by Tim Stafford and Caroline Wright.
- 2011, released Hartford-Rice-Clements album (Small Dog a-Barkin’) with John Hartford and Vassar Clements. This album was recorded in John Hartford’s home in 1988 but was not released until 2011.
- 2013, was inducted into the IBMA’s Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. His memorable acceptance speech included a seemingly miraculous recovery of his voice.
- 2020, died on Christmas day at the age of 69.