Unit of Measure by The Tony Rice Unit, released in 2000, finds Rice leading a small ensemble in the direction he had been pushing since his early-1980s departure from purely traditional bluegrass contexts. The Unit allowed Rice to pursue progressive acoustic music — jazz-influenced, rhythmically complex, harmonically adventurous — without the genre constraints of standard bluegrass. His guitar playing here is marked by the fluid, Clarence White-derived legato phrasing and sophisticated chord vocabulary that had made him the most imitated acoustic guitarist of his generation. The supporting musicians are chosen for their ability to play across idioms, and the album rewards listeners who are willing to follow Rice into territory where bluegrass is a starting point rather than a destination.
Tracklist
- 1 Manzanita alt version 4:47
- 2 House of the Rising Sun (Instrumental) alt version 5:27
- 3 Shenandoah (Instrumental) alt version 4:40
- 4 Gold Rush Source Recording 3:02
- 5 Jerusalem Ridge Source Recording 6:38
- 6 High Noon 3:44
- 7 Beaumont Rag alt version 3:16
- 8 Swing 42 Source Recording 1:56
- 9 An Olde Irish Aire (Danny Boy) 2:07
- 10 Sally Goodin alt version 3:19
