Every Note He Ever Played Or Sang Was the One We Wanted to Hear

 Category: News/Obituary 

Mandolin great Don Stiernberg put it perfectly:  "Every note he ever played or sang was the one we wanted to hear."

"He" was Tony Rice. 

The Bluegrass Hall of Famer died Christmas Day.  Ricky Skaggs' post announcing Rice's death stated, "Sometime Christmas morning while making his coffee, our dear friend and guitar hero Tony Rice passed from this life and made his swift journey to his Heavenly home."

David Anthony Rice was born in 1951 in Virginia.  He grew up in Los Angeles, where -- in one of the great understatements in music history -- learned to play guitar. By 1970 he was in Louisville as a member of the Bluegrass Alliance, then barely known but now regarded as one of the most influential acts in bluegrass music. 

From there, Rice was everywhere in bluegrass, both progressive and traditional: with J.D. Crowe and New South (getting a Grammy in 1983), the Bluegrass Album Band, the collaborative effort Rice, Rice, Hillman & Pedersen, recordings with Emmylou Harris, Ricky Skaggs, and David Grisman; and, of course, the Tony Rice Unit.

While the words "great musician" are thrown around to anyone who can make three chords, Rice's influence simply cannot be understated.  In his statement today (12/26) Skaggs emphasized, "Tony Rice was the single most influential acoustic guitar player of the past 50 years.  Many, if not all, of the bluegrass guitar players of today would say that they cut their teeth on Tony Rice's music." 

Dysphonia, a vocal cord disorder, cut Rice's career short.  Later he also developed tennis elbow, affecting his guitar playing.  

Farewell to the legendary Tony Rice, who was but 69 years old.

'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered

Category: News/Obituary

In less than two months the Country Music Hall of Fame has lost its fourth member.  Mac Wiseman, the legendary singer, dubbed "Voice With a Heart," died Sunday (2/24).  He had been suffering from kidney failure in the last weeks of his life.

Malcom Bell Wiseman was born in 1925 in Virginia.  Stricken with polio as a child, he learned to play guitar, and music became his primary interest.  His first appearance on record came as the bass player on Molly O'Day's classic "The Tramp on the Street" in 1946.

Wiseman also worked in radio, where he would sing and play records.  Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs heard him on the radio and asked him to join their band.  From there he later became a member of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys before striking out on his own in 1951.

Although usually considered "bluegrass" Wiseman had a number of songs on the singles chart.  His highest charting song was the classic "Jimmy Brown the Newsboy," although he also had a top 40 country hit with the novelty Cy Coben-penned song "Johnny's Cash and Charley's Pride" (with lyrics that were puns of country singers' names: "If I had Johnny's paycheck Charlie'd walk'er home from work no more").

In addition to his decades of work as a recording artist, Wiseman was also very active behind the scenes.  In 1958 he became the first treasurer of the Country Music Association, the organization that would later create the Country Music Hall of Fame.  He was inducted in  2014.  Additionally, he helped charter the International Bluegrass Music Association.  His close association with bluegrass throughout his career led him to be part of the third class of inductees into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.

People have often asked me what my favorite concert was.  It came in 1995, at MerleFest.  It was hardly a "concert" in the traditional sense (as anyone who's ever been to MerleFest, or any bluegrass festival, will attest), but it was the memorable thing I've ever witnessed in music.  Mac Wiseman was on a stage in a tent near the main grounds, entertaining the Saturday pre-lunch crowd.  One of the individuals enjoying Wiseman's wonderful voice was Doc Watson, the founder of the festival.  After Wiseman left the stage he sat down on a stool next to Watson, and the two spent the next 45 minutes swapping stories and songs, passing Wiseman's guitar between them.  Totally impromptu, totally unscripted, and totally mesmerizing.

The song that's probably most closely tied to Mac Wiseman is "'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered."  That sweet voice will always be remembered.

Mac Wiseman was 93.

Heartfelt Congratulations

Category: News

Excuse me for getting personal for a moment, but I'm one of the happiest individuals on the planet today.  

On Wednesday the International Bluegrass Music Association announced that their 2016 Bluegrass Hall of Fame inductees would include Ken Irwin, Marian Leighton Levy, and Bill Nowlin.  These three college friends helped American roots music to no end in 1970 when they founded Rounder Records.

I don't know where we'd be without Rounder.  One of the premiere independent record labels in America, they not only set the bar high but they showed how to be an indie label and do it right.

And oh, the music.  Of course there's Alison Krauss, but Rounder also gave us the Whitstein Brothers, the Johnson Mountain Boys, James King, and Dailey & Vincent.  Additionally, acts as diverse as Pokey LaFarge, Allan Toussaint, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, JD McPherson, and Doc & Merle Watson have had material released on Rounder at one point in their careers.

When other labels ran from individuality in music, Rounder embraced it, promoted it, and proved that there was a market for it.  That great tradition continues to this day.  The foresight and dedication of Ken, Marian, and Bill has now been rewarded with induction into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame.

And so to the terrific trio I offer my heartfelt congratulations on this honor, as well as my deepest thanks for all you have done for American roots music.