Article Contributed by Craft Recordings
Published on 2026-04-07
In celebration of what would have been influential bluegrass guitarist Tony Rice’s 75th birthday, Craft Recordings announces the return of his 1977 self-titled album. The foundational recording captured a shift in bluegrass toward a more expansive, ensemble-driven sound. Out of print for more than 40 years, Tony Rice features a who’s who of bluegrass legends—including David Grisman, J.D. Crowe, and Jerry Douglas—and remains a cornerstone of the “new acoustic” genre, blending bluegrass standards with contemporary compositions.
Cut from the original tapes with all-analog (AAA) mastering by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, the album returns to vinyl on June 5 with packaging that replicates the original 1977 jacket design. The remastered album will also be available across digital platforms in standard and hi-res audio. Rice’s take on the traditional folk ballad “Banks of the Ohio” is available to stream and download now. The album is available to pre-save and pre-order today.
One of the most revered names in modern bluegrass, Tony Rice (1951–2020) was an innovative force who shaped the sound of the genre throughout his career, and whose distinctive touch on the guitar influenced countless others. Born in Virginia and raised in Los Angeles, Rice launched his career in Louisville, KY, where he rose to prominence as the lead vocalist and guitarist of J.D. Crowe’s legendary group, The New South. In the mid-’70s, not long after the release of their self-titled bestseller (featuring fellow bluegrass icons Jerry Douglas and Ricky Skaggs), Rice returned to California to join David Grisman’s esteemed quintet. With the celebrated mandolinist, he broadened his musical palette, incorporating jazz, classical, and other styles while refining his guitar technique through a blend of harmonic intervals, flatpicking, and crosspicking.
It was during this era that Rice released his self-titled third studio album. His first of many for Rounder Records, Tony Rice not only showcased the guitarist’s virtuosic talents and warm vocals, but also marked an early example of the new acoustic style—an improvisation-driven blend of bluegrass, jazz, classical, and prog-rock on wholly acoustic instrumentation—a sound that Rice helped pioneer. The album’s tracklist and personnel reflected his forward-thinking approach to the genre while honoring its roots.
Rice is joined by an all-star lineup of collaborators: his brother, mandolinist Larry Rice; former bandmates J.D. Crowe (banjo, backup vocals) and Jerry Douglas (dobro); members of David Grisman’s quintet—fiddler Darol Anger, bassist Todd Phillips, with Grisman on mandolin—plus legendary fiddler Richard Greene. Together, they artfully blend folk, blues, and bluegrass standards—Bill Monroe’s “Big Mon,” the Jimmy Martin/Paul Williams–penned “Mr. Engineer,” and traditional material like “Hills of Roane County” and “Banks of the Ohio”—with progressive compositions from contemporaries, including Grisman’s “Rattlesnake” and David Nichtern’s “Plastic Banana.” Long coveted by fans, Tony Rice has only grown in reputation over the years. In a retrospective review, AllMusic declared that “hardcore bluegrass fans will probably consider [this album] his best.”
In the years following the self-titled album, Rice continued to explore the outer limits of the genre with his group The Tony Rice Unit on titles like Manzanita (1979) and Backwaters (1982), while as a soloist he recorded a variety of more traditional albums, including the acclaimed Church Street Blues (1983). Over the course of his four-decade career, Rice released more than a dozen albums under his own name and over two dozen collaborative titles—including recordings with The Rice Brothers, Norman Blake, and The Bluegrass Album Band, a supergroup he co-founded alongside J.D. Crowe.
Hailed by Ricky Skaggs as “the single most influential acoustic guitar player in the last 50 years,” Rice was also a sought-after session musician who appeared on recordings by Mary Chapin Carpenter, Béla Fleck, and Emmylou Harris, among others. A GRAMMY® Award winner and multiple IBMA recipient, Rice delivered his final public performance in 2013, upon his induction into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.
Click here to pre-order and pre-save Tony Rice.
Tony Rice Track Listing (Vinyl)
Side A:
1. Banks of the Ohio
2. Rattlesnake
3. Mr. Engineer
4. Plastic Banana
5. Don’t Give Your Heart to a Rambler
6. Farewell Blues
Side B:
1. Way Downtown
2. Stoney Creek
3. Hills of Roane County
4. Eighth of January
5. Big Mon
6. Temperance Reel
Tony Rice Track Listing (Digital)
1. Banks of the Ohio
2. Rattlesnake
3. Mr. Engineer
4. Plastic Banana
5. Don’t Give Your Heart to a Rambler
6. Farewell Blues
7. Way Downtown
8. Stoney Creek
9. Hills of Roane County
10. Eighth of January
11. Big Mon
12. Temperance Reel
