By John Baldry

One of the most significant bluegrass records of the Seventies was Tony Rice's first release on the Rounder label. Simply entitled Tony Rice, Rounder 0085, it has since been reissued on CD. Along with the now-classic J.D.Crowe and the New South, Rounder 0044, on which Tony Rice also played, it announced to the world that bluegrass was taking a new direction. Tony Rice was building on ideas from Clarence White's guitar playing and adding his own highly figured and syncopated blues licks, to create his personal chapter of guitar history.

Tony's musical roots, however, are firmly in traditional bluegrass. His father had earlier been active on the Californian bluegrass scene, and there are at least three other Rice brothers who were playing music around the house at an early age. Younger brother Wyatt now has a reputation as great as Tony's as a virtuoso guitar player. However, another equally creative member of the family has rather stayed out of the limelight, and that is Larry Rice.

A survey of recordings as far back as the Sixties will reveal Larry Rice's name as a mandolin and guitar player, notably with J.D.Crowe (on the Blackjack, alias Ramblin' Boy and The Model Church, LPs) and with brother Tony on pre-Rounder LPs. He also recorded his first solo LP, Mr Poverty. Larry has since made at least three other solo discs, on Rebel, as well as appearing on Tony Rice's Rounder 0085 and Cold On The Shoulder, Rounder 0183, plus The Rice Brothers, Rounder 0256. And I'm sure this list is not exhaustive!

Larry Rice's primary instrument is the mandolin. He is a very clear and accurate player with a lot of drive, a quality he shares with Doyle Lawson, a long-time friend and musical associate. He has a love of the traditional way of doing things, which is coupled with a need to be experimental. Larry writes a lot of his own material, vocal and instrumental. He has also experimented with the mandola, for which he has developed a style of playing based on the clawhammer banjo sound (though he plays with a flatpick).

Larry Rice actually plays the opening break on brother Tony's first Rounder LP. Side one, band one is The Banks of the Ohio, which is about as traditional a song as you can get - it was recorded in classic versions by the Monroe Brothers and the Blue Sky Boys in pre-bluegrass stylings, and that was decades before Joan Baez and Olivia Newton-John!

The Rices take Banks of the Ohio at quite a fair pace for a slow song (crotchet ‘d’ = approx. 100). Larry's break starts off with the melody, but half way through bar 6 (counting from the double bar line) he has a quick think and puts in a jazzy lick to liven things up before returning to the melody. The main tune continues as far as bar 12, with a bit of ornamentation. From here to the end of the break we have a succession of licks, including a funky little number against the final F chord which reminds us that Larry's first instrument, at the age of 5, was the steel guitar.

I've tried to get this tab as close as I can to Larry Rice's playing. However, the mix on the recording was a bit cluttered, and I may have got a few notes of J D Crowe's banjo confused with the mandolin playing! It will be a great help to obtain the CD if you find difficulty in interpreting the tab. This slower type of break, with tremolo, is a unique aspect of mandolin styling in which you can outshine all the other instruments, but reading tremolo tab can be difficult. Unfortunately Derek's MIDI file will not reproduce the tremolo sound. It may help to remember that a tremoloed note usually finishes on an untremoloed downstroke in bluegrass - as in the untremoloed tied quarter notes (crotchets) in bars 6, 10 and 12. It would also help to play through the entire break without tremolo, to get the timing straight.

For further listening to Larry Rice, you may still be able to obtain his Rebel LPs, Hurricanes and Daydreams (1646) and Time Machine (1656), as well as the CD Artesia, Rebel 1666, which have some great mandolin playing and also feature some of Larry's own songs. I've also no hesitation in recommending the 85 minute cassette which Larry made with Niles Hokkanen back in 1982, which contains a mixture of classic bluegrass instrumentals (including Bill Cheatum, Farewell Blues, Billy In The Lowground, I Am A Pilgrim and Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms), along with some more progressive/experimental material. The accompanying tablature book is massive - multiple breaks on most songs, including 13 separate solos for Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms! A terrific bargain at the current price of $26 including airmail postage overseas. Write: Niles Hokkanen, PO Box 3585, Winchester, VA 22604, USA.

John Baldry, Crawley, Sussex | Visit John |

Sail Away Ladies for Banjo

A Tab arranged in G major by Janet Davis

The piece is straightforward so Janet didn’t send any notes, but I would refer you to the excellent comments by John Baldry in the January NWBN for an excellent general discussion.

Janet is a well respected player and runs the Janet Davis Music Co., P.O. Box 5337 Bella Vista, AR. 72714, USA. Visit her at, or order from:http://www.janetdavismusic.com
[ Write to Janet ]

Updated 23rd Jan 1999