Me and My Guitar by Tony Rice, released in 1986, strips the format to its essentials: Rice, his Martin D-28, and the songs he has lived with longest. The album includes "Early Morning Rain" — Gordon Lightfoot's most enduring contribution to the folk canon, which Rice transforms through the authority of his flatpicking — and the title track, which functions as something close to a personal statement. Without the ensemble context of his New South or bluegrass recordings, Rice's guitar playing reveals its full range of influences: Clarence White's legato phrasing, jazz harmonic awareness, country blues inflection. The voice, too, takes on new weight in this spare setting. Me and My Guitar remains among the most honest records in Rice's catalog precisely because it removes every buffer between the player and the listener.
Tracklist
- 1 Me and My Guitar Source Recording 3:57
- 2 Four Strong Winds 4:01
- 3 Walls 2:00
- 4 Greenlight on the Southern alt version 3:24
- 5 Port Tobacco 4:48
- 6 Early Morning Rain Source Recording 3:10
- 7 Sixteen Miles 2:46
- 8 Hard Love 4:24
- 9 Tipper Source Recording 3:37
- 10 Song For A Winter's Night 3:10
- 11 Sweetheart Like You 4:34
- 12 Fine As Fine Can Be 3:24