Tony Rice

[kevinmcg76]

Why is Sam wearing his Mom's glasses?

[whatsitallabouthey]

@kevinmcg76 It's actually Sam's mother wearing a beard.

[aliwhitwell]

Finest bluegrass I have ever heard in 50 years! Fullstop!

[sm0kinbassist]

Look at Sam Bush jamming on the bass at 1:53! Thought he was mandolin only.

[Lewey8705]

No wonder these guys used to be called The Telluride Allstars.

[murphy2034]

dam he can play that dobro, the greatest ever!

[FenceThis]

ultimate lineup ! I can recommand the Strawberry Mountain Festival 9/5 1999 concert aswell, featuring 3/5 of this crew but Bryan Sutton and Gabe Witcher substituting Tony and Mark.Tony and Mark are the real thing though,the whole band naturally revolving round Tonys picking and voice.

[giantrobot9000]

Does anyone have Whitewater from this show? They were on fire, and Sam Bush was hilarious when Tony Rice called that one out...."Don't make me do it! I can't do it no more, pa!"

[elguitaro]

fyi this tune is called White House Blues, originally done by Charlie Poole.

[TheMrCompletely]

This appears to be from the Merle Watson Memorial Bluegrass Festival (now called "MerleFest") in 1992 which was filmed for PBS and released as a 10 part documentary called "Pickin' for Merle." I was in attendance, and not only was it easily the best bluegrass festival I have seen out of dozens, this allstar jam was the musical highlight rather easily. Thank you very much for posting it!

[mosrite60]

these guys really kick ass big time!

[Hannes87]

Mark O'Connor's structure and phrases are marvels of creativity and clarity of thought. Just incredible...

[cokekdx]

there may have never been better bluegrass played than right there on that stage....

[jugmongers]

Those boys are red hot. They just a blew me away. Thanks for putitn; this here video up. - Judd Jugmonger

[Hannes87]

That's hot!

[joetroopmusician]

WOOOO!!!!!

[birdstuckinchimney]

Q: What's the difference between the banjo and the mandolin

A: The banjo takes longer to burn

[chirfu]

How do you know when the stage is level?

When the Banjo player drools from both sides of his mouth!

[HillbillyJ]

How can you tell when someone is jealous of Bela Fleck? They make comments like yours. Not funny? Well niether was yours. If you can't respect banjo players your watching the wrong vid, go somewhere else.

[chirfu]

If you notice above my comment there is a joke... I followed suit. I can respect anyone who is talented.  Bela most certainly is talented and sitting through one of his workshops he is a talented teacher as well. If you are a banjo player with any amount of time behind it, I am sure you have heard banjo jokes before. Stop proving the jokes correct and get a sense of humor.

[chirfu]

This is truly an allstar cast to be enjoyed!

[excavatoree]

@birdstuckinchimney If Sam's mandolin or Bela's banjo haven't caught fire by now, they're fireproof.

[spitzmanndm]

for shure, i can see and hear that one for all this night long...So much thanks for all of you and a happy new year for all of us, P

[onehipdawg]

This is the best of the best.

[mandolingirl09]

Ain't nobody that picks this good anywhere! LoL!

[hyndmanstrider79]

@mandolingirl09 Well said

[buddsnic]

Damn right !

[ltdann86]

Their getin' on it purtty good

[blaza2000]

fantastic!

[NRamirezCR]

Great stuff!

[FuzzyLogic0101]

It just doesn't get better than this...

[khybor]

Jerry looks kinda dorky but what can you really say about the dude with freakin' chops like that?!?

I've been trying to find the name of this song: lil' help please?

[scubajohn87]

the name of the song is "white house blues"

[Thunderbeing]

The Tune is WHITE HOUSE BLUES. Sung from the standpoint of Pres. McKinleys widow, after his assination.  Rice

[hikebikeyak]

UNC public television broadcast at least 6 hours of this festival in a series called "Pickin' for Merle". I haven't seen it rebroadcast in many years I have it all on VHS.

This song is Whitehouse Blues, originally written by Charlie Poole

Billed as Tony Rice and Friends, Tony sure has some talented friends!

[blaza2000]

i'm from serbia in the south east of europe and i have to say that this is just so great!

[oldcremona]

Tony's break is da bomb.

[carteru93]

Wow for a sec there at 1:53 it looks like Sam is playing the bass LOL

[hempnotapimp]

yeah, that freaked me out when I first saw it!

[birdstuckinchimney]

LOL very observant of you. You're right though LOL

[funability1]

been listening to these guys since I was a kid and one thing remains constant, obvious dedication beautiful! TYFP !

[slynnedwards]

I like the part where Bela thinks he got cock blocked but then realizes his 12 bar section is over

[dougienancy]

Im from Scotland,what does "cock blocked" mean? is that an american saying? And yes I just love that wee apologetic shake of the head...magic

[carteru93]

simple misunderstanding, they handled it phenomenally and didnt miss a note.

[jeeperforlife]

Man I miss the days when these guys were on American Music Shop. Thanks for the post!

[Seanthomson8888]

They really should make a merlefest DVD

[sproutgerkin]

This was filmed at Merlefest in 1992. Wilkes Community College, Wilkes County, NC.

[Stonewort]

Geez, what a stageful of masters... Sam Bush on mandolin, Mark O'Conner on fiddle, Bela Fleck on banjo, Tony Rice on guitar, Jerry Douglas on dobro. When and where was this filmed? Great clip...