Search - Tony Rice :: Backwaters

Bluegrass and Jazz find common ground

Pharoah S. Wail | Inner Space | 01/12/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of my favorite Tony Rice albums. The song COMMON GROUND is one of the main songs I point "new" people to when they are curious and want to hear what Tony means by the term "spacegrass". It's not just Tony that makes this album great though. Bassist Todd Phillips is one of the best players in this genre and the thick, woody tone of his bass is captured in full force on this recording. And check out the Civil War feel on the song BACKWATERS when Todd bows his bass!



I've heard several guitarist-centered bands play MY FAVORITE THINGS and for my tastes, this is the definitive recorded "guitar version" of this song. MY FAVORITE THINGS belongs to Coltrane and Rice, although a few others try it.



OH! And since people reading this may not be too familiar with it, this is one of Tony's all instrumental albums."

Backwaters: A lesson for any player

Allen Hughes | Johnson City, TN | 04/19/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Backwaters is and album that I have owned for years! Anyone who would like to experience what true acoustic music should be would do well to purchase this CD. Tony Rice continually delivers the three key elements to great guitar playing: TONE, TASTE, and TIMING. A great album for aspiring acoustic musicians."

Great Stuff

Bernard | 03/28/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a fantastic album of great acoustic music, played fabulously well by awesome players. Tony Rice especially, plays some exquisite, exciting guitar lines throughout this record. His playing is powerful, clean, and crystal clear. You can feel his love of this music, and he absolutely tears it up.Is there anything less than pure gold here? Well, it's only 35 minutes long - a bit on the short side. Musically my only complaint would be against the rhythm accompaniment, which on a few ocassions gets a little bit repetitive. After the same chord progression has gone around for about the 10th time, I tend to really miss the subtlety that a jazz musician would bring to the proceedings. The chords and bass-lines seem to be banged out in the same fashion over and over again in a few spots.But this is only a slight disappointment. It's not as if there's no subtlety at all here; there's plenty. And anyway, this complaint is outweighed by the fine, fine playing of Tony Rice, and by that of his terrific band-mates Richard Greene and Fred Carpenter on violin, and John Reischman on mandolin. You must check out the terrific tunes and the great playing on this wonderful album!"