And I learned bass runs from Jimmy Martin.Ĭould you describe your preferred roles when playing the guitar? Do you enjoy playing lead and/or do you prefer playing rhythm? Crowe, David Grisman, and Clarence White. Other than your brothers, who are two or three of the musicians that have most influenced you? He gave me my first Martin Guitar, a D-18, and he showed me leads to John Hardy and Salt Creek, and, years later, he introduced me to New Acoustic Music. Being a guitar player, I learned so much from Tony. Both of those lessons really stuck with me to this day. At an early age, Ronnie and I were recording a tape one time, and Ronnie mentioned that I was playing too loud one second and too soft the next, on a song that required even dynamics in other words, Ronnie taught me to smooth out the rhythm. Larry and I were doing a duet record, and while recording Larry mentioned that the timing was speeding up, which made me aware of timing. From Larry and Ronnie, I’ve learned a lot about recording and playing. I’ve learned different aspects of musicianship from all my brothers. What do you learn, specifically, from those master musicians?Īctually, our Dad taught us all how to play at an early age. You got your start as a musician playing with your brothers Tony, Larry, and Ronnie Rice. Now that Tony has retired, Wyatt teaches individual guitar lessons in the Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies program at ETSU and performs as a solo artist and with a number of groups. Wyatt is the younger brother of the legendary Tony Rice, and performed alongside him for most of his career.

Such includes this interview with Wyatt Rice recently conducted by Ted Olson, professor of Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University. They have also graciously allowed us to reprint some of them on our site that we feel would be of interest to our readers. The good folks at the Mountains Of Music Homecoming who bring 9 days of music, culture, and culinary events to southwestern Virginia each June, have begun to publish short interviews with the various personalities associated with these ventures.

Tony rice teaches bluegrass guitar