Tony Rice

The truth is I’m not sure exactly how or where I discovered Tony Rice. I think it might have been “my guy” the benevolent gift-giver of musical gems. His name is just one that I always knew – sort of like my own name, though not exactly sure when I learned it.

When digital music really started taking off, I remember sitting in front of iTunes and thinking, “who should I type in?” One of the first names that came to mind was Tony Rice. He was a musician who I knew I liked – or at least I knew I should like, but had only one live recording of him, playing in Syracuse of all places. So I dug in. I started, as I usually do, with his earlier recordings and worked my way forward. His albums are fantastic – they are organic, varied and flat-out smokin’. While Tony is best known as a guitarist – he has a great singing voice – textured and gravelly soulful.

When I was courting musicians to participate on Some Assembly Required, I started with those that I had personal ties to and lobbed a few blue-sky long shots into cyberspace. Tony was one of the latter. I sent a totally unsolicited email to his manager expressing my man-love and my desire to have Tony play on the record. Nothin’. Radio silence. Then one day out of the blue and email popped up from Tony’s manager saying Tony had listened to the tune and he would like to participate. Rare that an email can make your day like that one did... his playing changed the face of this record. At the risk of sounding self-congratulatory, he took two solid songs and made them sublime!

PS: YES, I have The Pizza Tapes – very cool!