Manzanita

Tony Rice

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: 1979
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rounder / Umgd
• ASIN: B0000002DM
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #72,420 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best "UnBanjo" Album in existence, April 13, 2001

By	Mark J. Fowler "Let's Play Two!" (Okinawa, Japan) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Back about the late '70s 7-up had an advertising slogan calling itself the "un-cola". Mandolin Minor Deity David Grisman adopted this slogan calling his instrument, the mandolin, the "un-banjo". The idea was that the heavenly genre we call "Bluegrass" was thought of as "hick" music outside of it's core practitioners and followers - hick music which was instantly identified by the ring of a banjo. Grisman's "Dawg" albums (almost all of which feature Tony Rice) and Rice's "SpaceGrass" albums all applied the "banjoless" approach to string music. (Except Grisman's "Dawg Grass/Dawg Jazz" which featured no less than Earl Scruggs on the "Dawg Grass" side.)

Manzanita is a land-mark album from the "unbanjo" era. It includes complicated and lightning fast "Dawg/SpaceGrass" instrumentals such as the title cut, inventive orchestrations of traditional fiddle tunes like "BlackBerry Blossom", insightful sparse arrangements of contemporary folk classics like "Old Train" and "Home From the Forest" and Bluegrass classics like "Hold Whatcha Got", all sans banjo. Tony's vocals are from the era when his voice was strongest and most passionate, and the harmonies are Everly-Brotherlike-Tight from Ricky Skaggs and others. The other instrumental gunslingers include Grisman, Sam Bush, and Jerry Douglas.

In the liner notes to "Cold on the Shoulder" - another brilliant Rice collection - Tony says that he considered COTS to be a follow-up to Manzanita. I recommend that album highly as well. The style is similar, differing only in that the "unbanjo" approach was abandoned with the appearance of 5-string wizard Bela Fleck. Bela adds banjo to the sequel to the "unbanjo" project.

This album is "desert island" material. When Allison Kraus won 4 CMA awards the year of her breakthrough album "Now That I've Found You" she specifically cited Rice and Skaggs as major influences in one of her acceptance speeches. Manzanita MUST have been one of those influential recordings.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Landmark recording, August 22, 2002

By	stranger2himself (Down Here) - See all my reviews

Saying that Tony Rice is "one of the best bluegrass guitarists around" is like saying that Coke sells a popular soft drink. Tony Rice is one of those rare musicians whose gift is so spectacular that he transcends categories. Though this is not Ralph Stanley-style bluegrass, if you like bluegrass you'll like it. Even if you don't, get it if you would like the tightest acoustic music ever, accompanied by his fantastic (and now sorely-missed) baritone vocals. If you think Nickel Creek and Union Station are good (they are), get Tony's CD's to hear how the ground was broken and standards were set for "new acoustic" music.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the price...at any cost, May 14, 2004

By	John Candy (Silver Spring, MD) - See all my reviews

Tony Rice is the same to bluegrass guitar as Hendrix was to rock guitar or Charlie Parker was to jazz saxophone. An innovator. A genious. I cannot recall hearing more talent in any bluegrass album I've ever heard. Scaggs, Grisman, and Rice all in the same band? Whoa! This is the ULTIMATE bluegrass cd. The ULTIMATE. I don't even need to go over the songs one by one because every single one is true perfection. Rice plays so fluidly, never missing a note, I am floored every time I listen to this cd. Five Stars.