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By Steve Swan
Tony Rice and Peter Rowan in Palo Alto, CA
It was great to hear Peter and Tony play together again last night. Backstage before the show it was a little like Old Home Week. Todd Phillips was there to MC and he brought along David Grier and Matt Flinner, who were in town checking out Todd's new computerized recording studio. I hadn't seen Mark Schatz since the 1992 IBMA. My wife, Barb, was pretty impressed with his bass and his technique as he warmed up. Peter was his usual congenial self and seems happy with his Czech made mandolin. Peter was playing his Henderson 12 Fret OOO and I brought along his Ralph Bown 12 Fret O that has recently gotten some bridge repair work done in our shop. Tony seems content and fully recovered from his nasty car wreck from Summer of 1997. He brought along the old D-28 to play. The show was a showcase for Peter's singing and Tony's playing. In between a lot of Peter's warhorses were a few of his new songs. There were a few Bluegrass songs such as "First Whipporwill" and even a rendition of "Salt Creek" that let Tony show his stuff through 4 breaks. Peter's time is comfortable and loping, so it was nice that Schatz gave Tony some tight rhythm and they respond well to each other with syncopation and rhythm shifts. Tony's solo tune "Shenandoah" has gotten an new jazzier part as a last chorus. When is he going to release an album of this kind of stuff? I brought along a new Tony Rice Professional to show him how Santa Cruz is progressing with the model these days. He had some suggestions for a few refinements and we'll continue discussions regarding the final specifications of his next Santa Cruz guitar. The old D-28 recently got another refret by Snuffy Smith and that old Gretsch fingerboard is just about planed away to nothing. I suggested that he get another fingerboard next time, but he's afraid to mess with the success that he's had with this guitar the way it is. It will be great to see more of these guys playing together in the future. I'd like to see Sam Bush or Jerry Douglas as another rhythm foil for Tony in the band, though. http://www.steveswanguitars.com
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