Tony Rice – Guitarist Extraordinaire – Born June 8, 1951!
Celebrating his birthday today, June 8th, in addtion to Boz Scaggs is the great musician Tony Rice. Tony was born just a few months before me in the year of 1951. Tony Rice is a great guitarist whose solo work and work with brother Larry, Chris Hillman and Herb Pederson (Rice,Rice,Hillman &Pedersen) appear in my library! Here’s some background for those of you who don’t know Tony. From Wikipedia:
Tony Rice (born David Anthony Rice, June 8, 1951, Danville, Virginia) is an American acoustic guitarist and bluegrass musician. He is considered one of the most influential acoustic guitar players in bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, newgrass and acoustic jazz.[2][3]
Rice spans the range of acoustic music, from traditional bluegrass to jazz-influenced New Acoustic music, to songwriter-oriented folk. Over the course of his career, he has played alongside J. D. Crowe and the New South, David Grisman (during the formation of “Dawg Music”) and Jerry Garcia, led his own Tony Rice Unit, collaborated with Norman Blake, recorded with his brothers Wyatt, Ron and Larry and co-founded the Bluegrass Album Band. He has recorded with drums, piano, soprano sax, as well as with traditional bluegrass instrumentation Continue Reading
You can also read his full biography here at his website. Here’s a list of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) awards that Tony has won….
- Hall of Fame Inductee, 2013
- Instrumental Performer of the Year – Guitar – 1990, 1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2007
- Instrumental Group of the Year – The Tony Rice Unit – 1991, 1995
- Instrumental Group of the Year – The Bluegrass Album Band – 1990
- Instrumental Album of the Year – Bluegrass Instrumentals, Volume 6 (Rounder) ; The Bluegrass Album Band – 1997
It’s not often you check to see four masters of their respective instruments on the stage at one time like in the following video! From the left Mark O’Connor on the fiddle, David Grisman on mandolin, Tony Rice guitar and great master Jerry Douglas! So let’s go “into the night” wishing Tony Rice a Happy Birthday, and listening to some great picking from this quartet!!