Bluegrass guitarist Tony Rice, recognized as one of the genre’s all-time greats, has passed away. He was 69 and died suddenly on December 25, his former label Rounder Records noted.
As a solo artist, collaborator and leader of the Tony Rice Unit, Rice was known for his inimitable skill as a flatpicker, an intricate, fast-paced, melodic style of guitar playing. Rice’s signature style, heavily influenced by jazz, has influenced numerous artists in the bluegrass world and beyond, including artists such as Jason Isbell and Steve Martin. His signature guitar, a Martin D-28, belonged to Byrds’ Clarence White.
After growing up in California with a father who played guitar, Rice moved to Kentucky as an adult, playing five nights a week with JD Crowe and the New South. Rice released his first album under his own name, Guitar, in 1973, and later released albums like the one from 1978 Acoustics and 1980s Mar West with the Tony Rice Unit. Rice co-founded and released several records with the Bluegrass Album Band, in addition to regular performances with guitarist Norman Blake and mandolin player David Grisman. In 1993 he worked with Grisman and Jerry Garcia The Pizza Tapes, a loose collection of folk songs released in 2000.
Rice had a thriving career in the 1970s and 80s, with albums like 1979’s Manzanita and 1983’s Church Street Blues sustainable as milestone works in bluegrass. In 1994, Rice developed dysphonia, which prevented him from singing for most of his life. In 2013, Rice was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Hall of Fame, a performance that included his last public guitar appearance. His last album was from 2011 Hartford Rice and Clements with banjo player John Hartford and violinist Vassar Clements, a project recorded in 1988.