Blake and Rice cover

Blake and Rice

Norman Blake and Tony Rice

Album · 1987 · Rounder 0233

Blake & Rice, released in 1987, is a duet record for two guitars. Norman Blake is credited with guitar, mandolin and vocals, and Tony Rice with guitar and vocals. It was recorded at Bias Recording Studios in Springfield, Virginia, and issued in the United States on Rounder (0233) and in Canada on Aural Tradition.

The program mixes songs and instrumentals. Blake wrote four of the pieces: “New Chance Blues,” “Green Light on the Southern,” “Ridge Road Gravel” and “Last Train From Poor Valley.” The rest draws on other writers: Charlie Monroe’s “New River Train,” the Delmore Brothers’ “Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar,” Gordon Lightfoot’s “I’m Not Sayin’,” “The Shipyard Apprentice” by Archie Fisher, Norman Buchan and Bobby Campbell, and Bill Monroe’s “Monroe’s Hornpipe.” Five of the fourteen tracks are instrumentals. Four of them are traditional pieces: “Texas Gales,” “Stoney Point,” “Little Beggarman / Gilderoy” and the pairing of “Fiddler’s Dram” with “Whiskey Before Breakfast.” Blake and Rice made a second album together later.

Tracklist

  1. 1 New Chance Blues Source Recording Norman Blake · key A · 122 bpm 2:15
  2. 2 Green Light on the Southern Source Recording Norman Blake · key E · 77 bpm 3:46
  3. 3 I’m Not Sayin’ Source Recording Gordon Lightfoot · key Eb · 119 bpm 2:17
  4. 4 Texas Gales Source Recording Traditional · key G · 121 bpm 3:39
  5. 5 Ridge Road Gravel Source Recording Norman Blake · key D · 99 bpm 2:27
  6. 6 Fiddler’s Dram Source Recording Traditional · key D · 118 bpm 4:42
  7. 7 Monroe’s Hornpipe alt version 3:00
  8. 8 Last Train From Poor Valley Source Recording Norman Blake · key D · 80 bpm 3:35
  9. 9 New River Train Source Recording Traditional · key D · 123 bpm 3:26
  10. 10 Stoney Point alt version 2:48
  11. 11 Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar Source Recording Alton Delmore · key C# · 118 bpm 3:33
  12. 12 Little Beggarman / Gilderoy 2:58
  13. 13 The Shipyard Apprentice 4:13
  14. 14 Medley: Fiddler's Dram/Whiskey Before Breakfast - Medley 4:42
  15. 15 I’m Coming Back But I Don’t Know When Source Recording Charlie Monroe · key F · 117 bpm 2:43

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