The Genius of Larry Rice

Far too many times the magnitude of someone's genius is not appreciated until after they are gone. I've always admired the genius of bluegrass musician Larry Rice and I'm glad that more and more people are coming to realize what a great talent he was.

I got to know Larry quite well from 1996 onward until his untimely death in May 2006. I had been a fan for a long time before I ever was to make his acquaintance. The first song I remember hearing that Larry wrote was "If You Only Knew" recorded by his brother, Tony, on his "Cold On The Shoulder" album around 1984. Soon after that in the mid-1980s, Larry emerged from a long period of inactivity with many fine solo releases on the Rebel Records label. "Hurricanes and Daydreams" was released in 1985. I still love hearing "Four Wheel Drive", "Tabasco", "Starbound Heroes", "Dad's Old Coat" and many more. I won't give an album by album and song by song review here, but if you don't have the "Hurricanes and Daydreams", "Time Machine", "Artesia", and "Clouds Over Carolina" records, you should get them because they are all fine pieces of musical artistry by the master, Larry Rice.

Now, let's go back to the spring of 1996. As I mentioned, I was already a big fan of Larry's playing and songwriting. I was immersing myself in songwriting by this time and had written the first of my original songs and wanted to have a BMI music publishing company just like Larry had his own publishing company by his name, "Larry Rice Publishing." I found Larry's phone number listed in an issue of Bluegrass Unlimited and I decided to call him up. I was nervous not knowing how he would react to a complete stranger calling out of the blue on a Sunday night (April 21, 1996 to be exact-still recall the date). Larry was very nice and kind ot me and told me what I needed to do to get up and running as a BMI publishing company, which I did. In that first call he also told me of a recording project that he and Tony had just done with Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen which he said would be released soon. This was very cool to me because I was really into the Desert Rose Band as well. That project came to be known as "Out of the Woodwork" and was followed by two more fine projects with the same collaboration.

Larry and I became good friends over time from that day forward. He even recorded with me on a solo CD I did in the year 2000.

I feel his contributions to music sometimes are not recognized as much as they should be. HE was the one who came up with the idea for the Rice, Rice, Hillman, and Pedersen projects. They turned out some REALLY GREAT music. Larry's songwriting prowess is in great form on these CDs. Just listen to the awesome "Streetcorner Stranger" "Me and You" and "The Year of El Nino" if you need proof.

One thing I loved about Larry was that he didn't have the big head. He was common and down to earth. He was always encouraging and willing to help a person along if it was within his power. He was going to come to Arkansas and spend a few days and record with me again. Unfortunately Larry was diagnosed with mesothelioma in late 2004 and fought a battle that he would ultimately lose. I talked to Larry as much as I could throughout his treatment, either by phone or email. We even wrote a song together about Hurricane Katrina, which I hope to release on a future project.

May 14, 2006 was a sad day for me. I had been in the studio recording what was to become me and Brandon's "Old Time Saturday Night" CD. When I checked my phone I had a message from Larry's wife, Linda, telling me that Larry had passed away the previous day.

To me a part of my own musicality died that day too. Larry was a music hero of mine. I believe that his contributions to bluegrass and acoustic music are tremendous and that his absence is deeply felt by all who were touched by his music.

One of the greatest feelings I had after Larry's passing was when his uncle, Frank Poindexter, told me that Larry had told him that he really thought a lot of me. I thought a lot of him too and always will. If you haven't already, please check out some of the many fine recordings he left us and see for yourself the genius of this music giant.