Tony Rice: Bluegrass WITHOUT BANJO recc's?

ruger9 · #1 10-19-2011, 04:10 AM

I read this morning that Tony Rice's "Manzanita" is not only a "good 1st Tony Rice album to get", but also one without banjo. I have been leaning towards banjo-less bluegrass (blasphemy!), and was wondering if anyone can tell me any other Rice albums w/o banjo?

(I did some digging online, but album credits are hard to find)

And for that matter- ANY guitar-centered, no-banjo bluegrass recc's appreciated! (already love Bryan Sutton's "Not Too Far From The Tree")

catdaddy · #2 10-19-2011, 04:33 AM

One of my favorite bluegrass albums is 'The Peter Rowan and Tony Rice Quartet' CD. Great eclectic song selection, Tony's guitar playing is superb (as usual!) and as per your requirement, no banjo.

Please note that as a banjo player myself, I am taking the high ground here by being helpful and courteous but you obviously lack a certain sophistication in musical taste

Misty44 · #3 10-19-2011, 05:05 AM

Although rooted in bluegrass, Rice is a work in progress, and these albums showcase his evolution to folk, jazzgrass, spacegrass, and beyond. I believe these are banjo free (however some contain drums and saxophone!):

Church Street Blues

River Suite for Two Guitars

Blake and Rice I and II

Native American

Me and My Guitar

But unlike Manzanita, you may find these are not as "bluegrassy" as you'd like.

dmcowles@comcas · #4 10-19-2011, 05:10 AM

As already stated by Misty44, TR's musical journey has taken him light years away from bluegrass. I believe that he was once the best bluegrass vocalist ever, and when he lost his voice he concentrated on expanding his guitar horizons into innovative flatpicked guitar realms that don't include banjo more often than not.

ruger9 · #5 10-19-2011, 05:53 AM

Excellent!!! Especially the recc's for his jazzy stuff. LOVE IT!! I find it funny that the different musical genres are held so far apart, when in reality, at least from a player's standpoint, they are VERY closely related. Brad Paisley said "country (guitar) is nothing but jazz (guitar) played on the bridge pickup of a tele." I concur, and if you want evidence, listen to some Redd Volkaert!

I love how you can hear the connections between the genres. Looking very much forward to sampling some of Rice's jazzier experimentations.

BTW- no offense to banjo players, I guess I'm just not a fan. All sounds the same to me, all the banjo rolls in the background (I guess this is part of "rhythm banjo") all sound the same, and just get on my nerves. But banjo isn't alone in it's disdain from me: I also hate vibraphone! So many great jazz/swing/big band albums ruined by vibraphone!

GCWaters · #6 10-19-2011, 05:58 AM

Check out his work on the early Grisman quintet albums, too--two mandolins, but no banjo, very jazzy.....

Joe Mendel · #7 10-19-2011, 06:08 AM

Skaggs & Rice is excellent, just a guitar & mandolin & Tony & Ricky singing.
Blake & Rice and Blake & Rice II are both excellent. I don't recall any banjo on those either.

acousticjazz · #8 10-19-2011, 11:09 PM

You might want to give "Tone Poems 2" David Grisman/Tony Rice, or "The Pizza Tapes" Grisman/Rice/Jerry Garcia a listen for a non-classical-bluegrass (I don't think thats actually a word

). I will second the Skaggs & Rice album, also very good.

yardism · #9 10-19-2011, 11:13 PM

Another in support of Tone Poems, Blake/Rice and Skaggs/Rice. You might also dig around through some Norman Blake stuff as well, great player who focuses on old-timey feeling stuff...

bluemusic4us · #10 10-20-2011, 06:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GCWaters

Check out his work on the early Grisman quintet albums, too--two mandolins, but no banjo, very jazzy.....

I second this. This is great stuff.

jeepnstein · #11 10-20-2011, 07:27 AM

Every once in a while I get to hear a little bit of this or that from Rice. He's out there these days and that's a very good thing. Bluegrass is a wonderful genre but it can become really limiting. He's always kind of bucked against that trend.

I, for one, would like to see him get a monster jackpot of public acclaim for his playing. I don't know he's that terribly interested in it, though. I do think you'll see a generation of younger Bluegrass players more willing to buck the old "Ain't no money to be had beyond the third fret, boys." mentality. And we'll have Rice to thank for that in a large part.

drbluegrass · #12 10-20-2011, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeepnstein

Every once in a while I get to hear a little bit of this or that from Rice. He's out there these days and that's a very good thing. Bluegrass is a wonderful genre but it can become really limiting. He's always kind of bucked against that trend.

I, for one, would like to see him get a monster jackpot of public acclaim for his playing. I don't know he's that terribly interested in it, though. I do think you'll see a generation of younger Bluegrass players more willing to buck the old "Ain't no money to be had beyond the third fret, boys." mentality. And we'll have Rice to thank for that in a large part.

Hey jeep,

Just me. I would very respectfully submit that if you think, "Ain't no money to be had beyond the third fret, boys", sums up BG today you're seriously behind in your listening. There are tons of BG groups and artists that take BG waaaayyyyyyyy beyond the third fret. Even some of the "new traditionalists" are incredible players that regularly take BG beyond the third fret, sometimes at mach III. Then there are groups like The Infamous Stringdusters with musicianship almost beyond description. And that includes the writing and arranging. Unbelievable musicians. Same with The Punch Brothers. There are many others that have stretched the boundaries of BG. BG is fast becoming a very large and encompassing genre and is undergoing a renaissance of sorts as we speak. Listen to the BG channel on Sirius/XM radio for a few days and you'll see what I mean. Anyway, just thought I'd add my 2 cents.

Tom

cyclistbrian · #13 10-20-2011, 11:06 AM

"Unit of Measure" is a must have CD. It has a lot of bluegrass songs on it, meets your no banjo requirement, and has probably the best recorded steel string tone ever captured. Simply amazing stuff.

matonman · #14 12-08-2011, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drbluegrass

Hey jeep,

Just me. I would very respectfully submit that if you think, "Ain't no money to be had beyond the third fret, boys", sums up BG today you're seriously behind in your listening. There are tons of BG groups and artists that take BG waaaayyyyyyyy beyond the third fret. Even some of the "new traditionalists" are incredible players that regularly take BG beyond the third fret, sometimes at mach III. Then there are groups like The Infamous Stringdusters with musicianship almost beyond description. And that includes the writing and arranging. Unbelievable musicians. Same with The Punch Brothers. There are many others that have stretched the boundaries of BG. BG is fast becoming a very large and encompassing genre and is undergoing a renaissance of sorts as we speak. Listen to the BG channel on Sirius/XM radio for a few days and you'll see what I mean. Anyway, just thought I'd add my 2 cents.

Tom

you tell em dr bluegrass