There is a great music website for every genre of music. For those inclined to acoustic music, Roots and Americana, or Bluegrass, my go-to site is The Bluegrass Situation (thebluegresssituation.com). This West Coast based site keep me up to speed on the new music and talent across these genres. When I heard the news, just after Christmas, that Tony Rice, perhaps the greatest living bluegrass guitarist and vocalist, had died, I knew The Bluegrass Situation would soon be preparing a tribute. In late January, their Podcast Toy Heart with Tom Power released an amazing three-part series on Tony with Bluegrass luminaries like Sam Bush, David Grisman, Molly Tuttle, Peter Rowan, Sharon Gilchrist, Chris Thile, and Jerry Douglas. These are amazing oral histories in their own right, especially the stories told by Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas.

Rice was a transformational figure in music and one of the greatest guitarist that ever lived. He changed to way bluegrass music was played, bringing it to a level of the jazz players that he almost exclusively listened to--Miles Davis and John Coltrane. It must have been strange to visit his home and listen to music. This amazing acoustic guitar player sitting in a big arm chair playing one of Coltrane's Village Vanguard recordings. Rice was able to make the most profound personal musical statements in his solo playing, but he could astound you even more with his incredibly empathetic and self-less rhythm guitar playing. And mandolinist Chris Thile called Rice's singing Buddhist in his approach--simple, unadorned, crisp, and without any self-consciousness.

I always thought Rice was from the deep south, but he came from southern California, and began playing with his brother Larry on the J.D. Crowe and the New South's seminal album Bluegrass Evolution, which blew people's minds and affirmed the work by bands like the Newgrass Revival. For whatever reason, he hesitated initially in playing with David Grisman, but whatever problems he had to overcome to play guitar on the groundbreaking 1977 jazzgrass album The David Grisman Quintet. I read recently some recollections from mandolinist David Grisman on working with Rice, where he said Rice had questions about whether or not he could compose good music. Grisman persuaded him to put a tune together, and that song, Swing 51, is one of the great tunes on that album.

Tony played with everyone back then, Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, David Grisman, Jerry Douglas, Jerry Garcia, and he inspired a new generation of amazing musicians who have continued to change and evolve bluegrass and progressive acoustic music. He was also a major influence and friend to one of our local acoustic music stars, Larry Keel.

I have my favorite Tony Rice Albums, here is a starting list of recommended music.

1) JD Crowe and the New South--The album that changed the direction of bluegrass features a mix of traditional bluegrass tunes and modern songs bluegrass style. Rice joined Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Ricky Skaggs. The album stretched the genre and leader Crowe gave his fellow musicians equal musical billing, allowing everyone to shine.

2) The David Grisman Quintet-- The David Grisman Quintet --The album that introduced the world to Dawg Music, this amazing set drew jazz and rock enthusiasts under the acoustic music tent. Rice's Swing 51 is a sublime jazz tune that shows off his composing, and his picking on throughout keeps up with Grisman's mandolin, if not passing him a few times. Make sure you continue through the Grisman recording catalog to hear the many contributions by Rice to Grisman's music over the decades.

3) Manzanita--The Tony Rice Unit. Rice created or was associated with so many transformational musical efforts. Manzanita is another example--from the opening chords of Old Train to the last notes of Home from the Forest. Rice always put together extraordinary bands, and this album is no exception. Sam Bush, Ricky Skaggs, and David Grisman share mandolin duties, Darol Anger on violin, Jerry Douglas on Dobro, and Todd Phillips on bass. I love the sublime interplay of Rice's guitar with Grisman's mandolin on the title track is sublime. This is an album that would play over and over on some folk's stereos, one of the very best of the history of the genre.

4) Backwaters--The Tony Rice Unit. Rice had a car he called Spacegrass. This album has been called by one critic a Spacegrass album, makes sense to me. I call it an amazing opus of new acoustical music that again changed the entire genre, building on the early Grisman Quintet music, but going beyond Dawg into its own genre that speaks to Rice's love of jazz. The ultimate feel good album to listen from start to finish.

6) The Pizza Tapes Extra Large Addition--Garcia/Rice/Grisman. I've written about his legendary album in the past. A pizza guy delivered some pies to Grisman's home and stole the tapes that Grisman had left on the coffee table. Soon everyone had copies of the tapes. This expanded edition, released in 2011, includes all of the recordings made over two nights in 1993 by Grisman, Rice, and Jerry Garcia. It's a set of old-time, jazz, and folk tunes, highlighted by the best rendition of Shady Grove that you will ever hear. In the banter at the end of that cut, Garcia remarks "Try to restrain yourself, Tony, jeeeez, that was great! Smokin!"

Give a listen to my Tony Rice playlist at https://tinyurl.com/585td5kq with some additional albums and tunes.