Tony Rice

Guitarist Tony Rice is a standard-setting acoustic flat-picking guitarist, combining elements of Jazz, Swing, and other forms of music into a style that is both technically dazzling and expressively melodic. Rice comes from a musical family and was influenced by Doc Watson and Clarence White. Rice has played with all the important innovators of the '60s and '70s, including virtuosos Ricky Skaggs and Jerry Douglas, when Bluegrass was undergoing somewhat of a progressive renaissance. Rice spent four years in the '70s playing with mandolinist David Grisman, before striking out on his own as a band leader.