Tony Rice (Rounder 0085, 1977) was Rice’s third solo album, following Guitar (1973) and California Autumn (1975). Rice, who had left J.D. Crowe’s New South and moved to California to join David Grisman’s quintet, recorded it at 1750 Arch Studios in Berkeley on 25–30 July 1976, produced it himself and mixed it with the engineer Bob Shumaker.
The personnel changes from track to track. “Banks of the Ohio” and “Mr. Engineer” (credited to Jimmy Martin and Paul Williams) use Rice on guitar and lead vocal with Crowe on banjo, his brother Larry Rice on mandolin, Jerry Douglas on dobro, Richard Greene on fiddle and Todd Phillips on bass; Larry Rice sings tenor and Crowe baritone. On “Don’t Give Your Heart to a Rambler,” written by Jimmie Skinner, and “Way Downtown,” Grisman takes the mandolin part instead, and he sings tenor on “Way Downtown.” “Hills of Roane County” has Rice with Crowe, Grisman, Phillips and two fiddlers, Greene and Darol Anger. Five of the twelve tracks have vocals.
The seven instrumentals include Grisman’s “Rattlesnake,” Jesse McReynolds’s “Stoney Creek” and Bill Monroe’s “Big Mon.” A smaller group of Rice, Grisman, one fiddler (Anger or Greene) and Phillips plays “Rattlesnake,” “Plastic Banana,” “Eighth of January” and “Temperance Reel,” while “Farewell Blues” and “Stoney Creek” use the full band with Larry Rice on mandolin, and “Big Mon” has Crowe, Grisman, Douglas, Greene, Anger and Phillips.
Tracklist
- 1 Banks of the Ohio Source Recording 4:12
- 2 Rattlesnake 4:28
- 3 Mr. Engineer alt version 3:04
- 4 Plastic Banana 2:55
- 5 Don’t Give Your Heart to a Rambler Source Recording 3:49
- 6 Farewell Blues Source Recording 3:10
- 7 Way Downtown alt version 3:27
- 8 Stoney Creek 2:34
- 9 Hills of Roane County alt version 6:05
- 10 Eighth of January Source Recording 2:37
- 11 Big Mon Source Recording 2:53
- 12 Temperance Reel Source Recording 2:39
