California Autumn by Tony Rice, recorded in 1975 and released on Rebel, is the album that announced Rice's singular guitar voice to the wider bluegrass world. Recorded in California with a band that included Bluegrass Alliance alumni, the record showcases the flatpicking fluency and melodic imagination that would define Rice's subsequent career — the clean tone, the relaxed authority, and the ability to move between old-time roots and jazz-informed phrasing without seeming to try. Rice had recently left J.D. Crowe's New South, and this album established him as a force in his own right. It remains one of the foundational documents of what became known as the newgrass or progressive bluegrass movement.
Tracklist
- 1 California Autumn 3:24
- 2 Bullet Man 2:54
- 3 Mr. Poverty 2:52
- 4 Billy in the Low Ground Source Recording 2:44
- 5 Red Haired Boy Source Recording 3:24
- 6 Good Woman's Love 3:10
- 7 You Don’t Know My Mind alt version 2:59
- 8 Alone and Forsaken 3:25
- 9 Bugle Call Rag Source Recording 2:45
- 10 Georgia on My Mind 3:18
- 11 Scarborough Fair 2:40
- 12 Beaumont Rag Source Recording 3:16