TONY RICE INTERVIEW
(Originally aired on November 20, 2008)
A critical link in the flatpicking lineage that begins with Clarence White and Doc Watson in the late '50s, and leads to such top contemporary players as Bryan Sutton, David Grier and Cody Kilby, Rice has consistently blurred the boundaries between bluegrass and jazz guitar. Since the '70s, Rice's fiery attack and ringing dreadnought timbers have set the sonic standard for acoustic lead guitar and his funky double-stops and cagey chromatic approach-tones have been on the cutting edge of spacegrass, a genre Rice helped create.
In our exclusive interview, Rice explains how he mixes jazz and bluegrass sounds when he's soloing. During our conversation, you'll even hear him pick his signature-model Santa Cruz flattop in the background.