Tony Rice

Tony Rice’s third solo album remains one of the founding texts of what came to be called New Acoustic Music — basically, bluegrass instrumentation performing jazz or jazz-adjacent music. That’s too glib a description for what happens on this album, though: with the help of superstars like J.D. Crowe, David Grisman, and Jerry Douglas, Rice singsong plays a mix of material ranging from the uber-trad “Banks of the Ohio” and “Way Downtown” to jazzy originals like “Plastic Banana” and “Rattlesnake.” His voice is in peak form, and his playing is — well, legendary. This album is an essential piece of American musical history.