Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice
Band · Active 1980–present · Lexington, Kentucky
Classic Bluegrass
Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice's 1980 Sugar Hill duet album Skaggs & Rice is a touchstone of the acoustic-duet tradition, a sparse vocal-and-mandolin/guitar record of Carter Family, Stanley Brothers, and Monroe Brothers material that became the template for a generation of bluegrass-revival duet projects.
- Both came up through J.D. Crowe and the New South in the mid-1970s — Rice on guitar and lead vocal, Skaggs on fiddle, mandolin, and tenor harmony — with Jerry Douglas on Dobro and Bobby Slone on bass.
- The Crowe lineup recorded the landmark J.D. Crowe & the New South (Rounder 0044) in 1975, where Skaggs's tenor over Rice's lead set up the duet album five years later.
- Rice left Crowe to join David Grisman's quintet in California in 1975; Skaggs went on to form Boone Creek (1975–77).
- Reunited as a duo in 1980 to record Skaggs & Rice for Sugar Hill: just two voices and two instruments on songs including "Bury Me Beneath the Willow," "Memories of Mother and Dad," "Where the Soul of Man Never Dies," "Will the Roses Bloom (Where She Lies Sleeping)," "Tennessee Stud," and "Talk About Suffering."
- The album was reissued in April 2012; never followed up with a second studio duet record.
- The two went separate ways after — Skaggs into mainstream country stardom in the 1980s and back to bluegrass in 1997 with Kentucky Thunder; Rice into a defining run of solo records on Rounder, the Bluegrass Album Band, and the Norman Blake duet series.
- Tony Rice died on December 25, 2020 at his home in Reidsville, North Carolina at age 69.
- Their 1980 record's two-voices, two-instruments aesthetic became the explicit reference point for the Norman Blake / Tony Rice duets, the brother-style work of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and countless tribute records that followed.
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Bury Me Beneath the WillowSkaggs and Rice (1980)
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Have You Someone in Heaven AwaitingSkaggs and Rice (1980)
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Mansions for MeSkaggs and Rice (1980)
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Memories of Mother and DadSkaggs and Rice (1980)
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Talk About Suffering Here BelowSkaggs and Rice (1980)
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The Old CrossroadsSkaggs and Rice (1980)
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There's More Pretty Girls Than OneSkaggs and Rice (1980)
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Where the Soul of Man Never DiesSkaggs and Rice (1980)
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Will the Roses BloomSkaggs and Rice (1980)
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Tennessee BluesSkaggs and Rice (1980)
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Ricky SkaggsPlayed on recordings with Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice
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Tony RicePlayed on recordings with Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice