Trivia by Dick Bowden
The winners are:
Leo Besen
Roy Streever
Tom Behan
Bobbi Bowden
Andy Bing
Tony Rice loved traditional original bluegrass music with all his heart. But he didn’t call his own music “Bluegrass”. He didn’t claim to be playing bluegrass (not all the time anyway). When Tony made his DRAMATIC appearance at the IBMA World of Bluegrass Week in Raleigh North Carolina, and summoned his long-lost speaking voice to conclude his acceptance speech for the Hall of Fame, he made a heartfelt plea. No matter where and how bluegrass evolves, NEVER FORGET the original bluegrass music – don’t let it die.
OCTOBER 11, 2024 TRIVIA QUESTION
So, with all that in mind, what did Tony call his own music? His “string jazz” band… I will give you a hint, he didn’t aggrandize his music by referring to it all the time by this pet name. But he did name his music publishing company with the term.
A. Unit Music
B. Spacegrass Music
C. Son! Music
D. Dapper String Music
E. Manzanita Tipper Music
F. The Antique Music
Additional Bowden Comments
Well done all! All you had to do to figure this one out is look at a Tony Rice CD or LP or cassette (I know, how ancient!) and you’ll see tunes he composed are published by Spacegrass Music — his publishing company. All the other choices, I made up for this trivia question.
“Unit Music” is something I made up because his band was called the Tony Rice Unit.
“Son!” Music is something I made up from what Tony used to cry out during a tune when a sideman would play something particularly audacious or pleasing. Son! I always liked that!
“Dapper String” I chose to describe Tony’s carefully managed stage appearance. Double breasted jacket, neck tie, his hair “done”, jewelry, and nice shoes/boots. Even more, Tony used to drive to his gigs in a Lincoln Town Car for a long while. Dapper indeed. The coolest looking dude in bluegrass.
“Manzanita/Tipper” were titles of two of Tony’s early string jazz compositions. Manzanita is the song he famously played on an OVATION guitar on the LP!! He claimed no one would ever have known this if he hadn’t revealed it, proving that it’s really the picker, not the instrument, that creates that certain sound. Tipper was the name of a dog, most famously the RCA Victor logo dog that listened to “His Master’s Voice”.
Finally “the Antique Music” reflects Tony’s nickname for his 1935 Martin herringbone D28 guitar. Yup he called it — “The Antique”. Another name for his publishing company that I made up.
B. Spacegrass Music. Tony and the pickers and singers of his generation listened closely to, and in many cases worked closely with, the first and 1.5 generation bluegrassers. That background influenced everything they played in the 70s and 80s when they were pushing the boundaries of the music, even when their music seemed a far cry from bluegrass. Today’s boundary pushers in many cases got their sense of bluegrass from Tony and his generation of pickers rather than from a close study of the first generation music itself, and it shows.
B
B
B
B