![]() ![]() ![]() He cut a captivating figure on stage: tall and thin, motionless as a statue except for his fingers moving across the strings with a combination of grace and robotic precision. But I give you this context because even as a child, Tony Rice struck me as different. In retrospect, the gift of my musical upbringing blows my mind, and I understand how lucky I was. So much so that, even though some of my dad’s bandmates were themselves living legends, delivering at the top of their game, it all seemed somewhat unremarkable to me. ![]() Tony became a friend of theirs in the early 1970s, crossing paths at clubs and in backstage tents at bluegrass festivals where he was playing with the Bluegrass Alliance (alongside newgrass pioneer Sam Bush) and, later, JD Crowe and the New South.įrom my perspective as a child, music was like eating and sleeping - it’s what everyone around me just did. My father, Ben Eldridge, was the banjo player in an influential bluegrass band called the Seldom Scene. I was fortunate to grow up knowing Tony, who, though gracious to everyone he met, was very enigmatic and untouchable. ![]()
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