TONY RICE Cold On The Shoulder LP NM/EX 1984 BLUEGRASS OG 1st

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Tony Rice Biography by Craig Harris

Out of the Woodwork

Tony Rice was one of bluegrass' most inventive flatpicking guitar players. Although he displayed a mastery of the genre's traditions, Rice set the standard for more contemporary styles. A former member of the Bluegrass Alliance, the David Grisman Quintet, J.D. Crowe's New South, and the Bluegrass Album Band, Rice also displayed his eclectic approach on solo recordings, collaborative albums with flatpicking guitar ace Norman Blake, and sessions recorded with his brothers Larry, Ron, and Wyatt, as the Rice Brothers. In 1996, Rice recorded a tradition-rooted album, Out of the Woodwork, with Chris Hillman, Herb Pedersen, and his brother Larry.

Raised in Southern California, Rice inherited his musical skill from his father, who played with several West Coast bluegrass bands and was heavily inspired by California-based bluegrass groups including the Dillards and the Kentucky Colonels, which featured influential guitar picker Clarence White. Moving temporarily to Kentucky in 1970, Rice became a charter member of the Bluegrass Alliance, one of the earliest contemporary bluegrass groups. As a member of J.D. Crowe's New South in the early '70s, along with Ricky Skaggs and Jerry Douglas, he continued to promote a new approach to the music of the hill country. After meeting imaginative mandolin player David Grisman during a jam session in 1975, Rice returned to California and helped form the David Grisman Quintet. During the five years that he played with the group, Rice helped to lay the foundation for the "newgrass" style that Grisman dubbed "Dawg Music." Leaving the Grisman Quintet, Rice formed a bluegrass supergroup, the Bluegrass Album Band, with J.D. Crowe, Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, and Todd Phillips. Although only a part-time venture, the group produced five memorable albums.

Mar West

Rice's albums as a soloist and with his band, the Tony Rice Unit, ranged from the jazz-tinged Mar West, which included bluegrass-style treatments of tunes by Miles Davis and John Coltrane, to singer/songwriter-oriented albums, including Cold on the Shoulder, Native American, and Me & My Guitar, featuring his virtuosic guitar picking and soulful vocalizing of songs by Ian Tyson, Phil Ochs, and Gordon Lightfoot. Rice released an album-length collection of Lightfoot's songs, Sings Gordon Lightfoot, in 1996. Rice continued to interpret the traditional bluegrass repertoire as well, releasing an album of old chestnuts, Plays and Sings Bluegrass, the same year. In 1997, with his brother Larry Rice, Chris Hillman, and banjoist Herb Pedersen, he founded Rice, Rice, Hillman & Pedersen, and the superstar quartet released three albums between 1997 and 2001. Rice's singing voice had essentially been silenced due to dysphonia since the early '90s, but he remained a top instrumentalist, collaborating with Peter Rowan on a pair of albums for Rounder Records, 2004's You Were There for Me and 2007's Quartet. The encouragingly titled Tony Rice Sings and Plays Bill Monroe appeared in 2011. Rice was inducted into the International Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2013, and the ceremony proved to be one of his final public performances; he had developed a severe case of lateral epicondylitis (also known as Tennis Elbow), which made it too painful for him to play guitar. Rice died at his home in Reidsville, North Carolina on December 26, 2020. He was 69 years old.

Tony Rice – Cold On The Shoulder

Tony Rice - Cold On The Shoulder album cover

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Label: Rounder Records – 0183

Format:

Vinyl, LP, Album

Country: US

Released: 1984

Genre: Folk, World, & Country

Style: Bluegrass

A1 Cold On The Shoulder

Written-By – G. Lightfoot*

2:33

A2 Wayfaring Stranger

Written By – Traditional

5:21

A3 John Hardy

Written By – Traditional

3:27

A4 Fare Thee Well

Written-By – B. Dylan*

3:19

A5 Bitter Green

Written-By – G. Lightfoot*

2:43

B1 Muleskinner Blues

Written-By – J. Rodgers*

4:20

B2 Song For Life

Written-By – R. Crowell*

2:58

B3 Why Don't You Tell Me So

Written-By – L. Flatt*

3:09

B4 If You Only Knew

Written-By – L. Rice*

2:14

B5 Likes Of Me

Written-By – J. Reed*

2:58

B6 I Think It's Gonna Rain Today

Written-By – R. Newman*

2:39

Copyright © – Rounder Records

Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Rounder Records

Produced For – Spacegrass Productions

Recorded At – Fantasy Studios

Recorded At – 1750 Arch Studios

Mastered At – Fantasy Studios

Pressed By – Wakefield Manufacturing – 43211

Banjo – Béla Fleck (tracks: A1, A3, B1, B5), J.D. Crowe (tracks: A4, B3)

Bass – Todd Phillips

Design [Album] – Elizabeth Weil*

Dobro – Jerry Douglas

Fiddle – Bobby Hicks (tracks: A4, B2, B3, B4), Vassar Clements (tracks: A1, A2, A3, A5, B1, B5, B6)

Guitar, Vocals – Tony Rice

Harmony Vocals – J.D. Crowe (tracks: A4, B3), Kate Wolf (tracks: A5, B2), Larry Rice (tracks: A4, B3, B4), Tony Rice (tracks: A5, B2, B4)

Lead Vocals – Tony Rice

Liner Notes – Tony Rice

Mandolin – Larry Rice (tracks: A4, B2, B3, B4), Sam Bush (tracks: A1, A2, A3, A5, B1, B5, B6)

Mastered By – George Horn

Mixed By – Bill Wolf, Tony Rice

Musician – Kate Wolf

Photography By – Leela Satyendra*

Producer – Anthony Rice

Recorded By – Bill Wolf

vinyl runouts are etched except for [W over M] which is stamped

bottom of the back cover: Jacket made in Canada

top right corner of the back cover: Digitally Mastered

Matrix / Runout (Label): 43211

Matrix / Runout (Runout, Side A - variant 1): R0183 A [W over M] 43211-A #9

Matrix / Runout (Runout, Side B - variant 1): ᴍ R0183 B [W over M] 43211-B #1

Matrix / Runout (Runout, Side A - variant 2): R0183 A #2 [W over M] 43211-A MO#2

Matrix / Runout (Runout, Side B - variant 2): ᴍ R0183 B #4 [W over M] 43211-B MO#2

Matrix / Runout (Runout, Side A - variant 3): R0183 A [W over M] 43211-A #7

Matrix / Runout (Runout, Side B - variant 3): ᴍ R0183 B [W over M] 43211-B #8

GOLDMINE GRADING

MINT ---- It should appear to be perfect. No scuffs or scratches, blotches or stains, labels or writing, tears or splits. Mint means perfect.

NEAR MINT ---- Otherwise mint but has one or two tiny inconsequential flaws that do not affect play. Covers should be close to perfect with minor signs of wear or age just becoming evident: slight ring-wear, minor denting to a corner, or writing on the cover should all be noted properly.

VERY GOOD PLUS ---- The record has been handled and played infrequently or very carefully. Not too far from perfect. On a disc, there may be light paper scuffs from sliding in and out of a sleeve or the vinyl or some of the original luster may be lost. A slight scratch that did not affect play would be acceptably VG+ for most collectors.

VERY GOOD ---- Record displays visible signs of handling and playing, such as loss of vinyl luster, light surface scratches, groove wear and spindle trails. Some audible surface noise, but should not overwhelm the musical experience. Usually a cover is VG when one or two of these problems are evident: ring wear, seam splits, bent corners, loss of gloss, stains, etc.

GOOD ---- Well played with little luster and significant surface noise. Despite defects, record should still play all the way through without skipping. Several cover flaws will be apparent, but should not obliterate the artwork.

POOR ---- Any record or cover that does not qualify for the above "Good" grading should be seen as Poor. Several cover flaws.