The Tony Rice Tier List

[@MichaelMarkGuitar]

What's your favorite Tony Rice album?

[@bubba2007]

honestly i know you skipped over the tone poems albums but they’re my favorites 😂 been watching you for a while man love the content brother

[@MichaelMarkGuitar]

@@bubba2007 haha I love Tone Poems too. Thank you so much for watching! So glad you enjoy it 😎

[@Stopmotionkid12]

Hartford, Rice, Clements. It's not a super well known album but a real hidden gem. Just 3 bluegrass legends in a jam circle session with little to no editing. I like more raw albums like that one and blake and rice.

[@mandoguy78]

man its hard to choose between Skaggs and Rice or Tony Rice plays and sings bluegrass

[@jrwstudios]

I agree with this 100%. Although it does hurt me Acoustics isn't S tier, I can conceed that's a personal thing and relevance wise A teir makes sense. Anyways, sorry to keep blowing up your comment section but I'm happy to find a bluegrass youtuber. Keep up the good work

[@MichaelMarkGuitar]

I can definitely see Acoustics easily being a favorite. I absolutely love it. His rhythm is bonkers! Oh and don’t be sorry, I love getting comments from people and it also helps the algorithm rankings 😁

[@isg01010]

I found a vinyl copy of the album "Mar West" at a used record store a few weeks ago. I guess you explained why I hadn't heard much about it until that day.

[@MichaelMarkGuitar]

Awesome! Finds like that are so cool. 🤓

[@jftruthseeker989]

Good video ! We all have different taste but i would pretty much put in the same order myself , but what’s important here is your knowledge and analysis of Tony Rice’s music and you’re a fan and this is an evidence

[@MichaelMarkGuitar]

@@jftruthseeker989 Thanks!! I am definitely a fan, haha… if it were a crime, there’d be plenty of evidence to convict me 😂 thanks for watching!

[@jftruthseeker989]

@@MichaelMarkGuitar I know Tony Rice since only two years and i’m an absolute fan too since i discovered him . His playing is so fantastic and special , the way he find spaces to do silent notes and dynamics in mesures in fast tempo songs , his classy look i love everything about him . The only album i would have put more high in the list is California autumn, I just bought it on vinyl and there is something special about this album , even if it’s his second i think ? But songs like California autumn, a good woman’s love, billy in the low ground, and the best version of Georgia on my mind of all time ! Its so good !

[@jameswiederhold1112]

The Tony Rice green album 1977 deserves higher placing imho. Plastic Banana! And one of my favorite TR solos of all time, Hills of Roane County.

[@MichaelMarkGuitar]

Yeah it honestly does... I mean it's just so hard to put any TR album at the bottom of its class 😂That version of Farewell Blues too is simply mind-blowing!

[@MrLeonscherphof]

Skaggs & Rice has to be S tier dude! Appart from that, great video haha ;)

[@MichaelMarkGuitar]

That may be true... kinda felt weird not putting it there 😂 Thanks man!

[@Guitarwizzard1833]

Me & My Guitar.

[@MasonCroneMusic]

Cool video! Now you need to do one for players. You could have people comment on who they want featured.

[@MichaelMarkGuitar]

Umm, that might go viral for the wrong reasons 😂

[@kendylhoudyshell1399]

Thanks Michael, appreciate your input on these albums. Very informative.

[@MichaelMarkGuitar]

Thanks for watching Kendyl!

[@dennisatkins9837]

You like a bluegrass album because it has no banjo! I’m crushed.😢

[@MichaelMarkGuitar]

Sorry about that, I forgot banjo players are sensitive people 😏

[@MasonCroneMusic]

I know dude, he's crazy. 🤦‍♂️🤣

[@iThrowFrisbees]

Can you do a tier list of bluegrass artists It would be cool to see your opinion.

[@scottied82]

If you decide to rank bluegrass guitarists, you’ll need to add category T (Tony) above S.

[@MichaelMarkGuitar]

Ohh true (or TRUe)…

[@j.c.h7127]

Interesting. I started buying TR albums around 1976. Heard a school teacher in North Dakota had a bluegrass record store on the front porch of his house. Drove through a snowstorm to get there. I believe I went home with Guitar, California Autumn, Something Auld, and the Rounder Record. I still like the 1970s stuff the best. The album called Tony Rice, sorry to disagree with TR and you, is superb. I believe his criticism, what he did not like about the album, had to do with his vocals being too ornate. So, strongly disagree on that one. Strongly agree on Manzanita. On Dawg music, I take the Quintet over all the rest, though he knocks On Green Dolphin Street to another galaxy on the one you like. I'm a hardcore bluegrasser, so I would much rather listen to Guitar than Church Street Blues.

[@MichaelMarkGuitar]

Awesome story. Yeah, it was hard to bring myself to use that bottom tier. I absolutely love the sound of early TR though especially with the New South. I do think his sound was “simpler” back then, but I like that about it too. Some probably think that the most crazy guitar playing is the most impressive but I just love listenable stuff. The original DGQ record is one of my favorites too and definitely such a watershed record. That would definitely be in S tier along with Backwaters 😎

[@brycegriffin9561]

I think all of the albums deserve S tier hahaha jk sorta but cold on the shoulder deserves F tier all the way, worst best peace of art ever 🤣🤣 I’m kidding of course.

[@Isaiah_46_4-5]

4:15 -4:23 😑

[@munseym]

Good analysis. I hate the jazz stuff. I wasn't a huge fan of the Tony Rice Unit. Church Street Blues was iconic (Wyatt is also great). I also liked the later years with Allison Krauss & friends.

[@MichaelMarkGuitar]

@@munseym Thanks! And perhaps you will come over to the dark side eventually…