Bluegrass star headed back to Merlefest

WENTWORTH — For 21 years, Tony Rice has been heading to Wilkesboro the last weekend in April. And this year will be no different.

The Wentworth resident is one of the headliners at the 22nd annual Merlefest bluegrass festival.  The four-day festival featuring Emmylou Harris, Travis Tritt, the Del McCoury Band, Tift Merritt, Sam Bush and the Carolina Chocolate Drops, among many others, begins Thursday and runs through Sunday on the campus of Wilkes Community College.

Over the years, Rice has picked acoustic flatpicked guitar and harmonized with everyone from bluegrass legends Bela Fleck and Sam Bush to Alison Krauss and Union Station.

“I’ve played or recorded with about everybody that plays at Merlefest,” Rice said.

This year, on Friday, Rice will be headlining on the Watson Stage with Peter Rowan in the afternoon and doing a guest spot with the group Mountain Heart in the evening.

“I have been playing with Mountain Heart a lot,” Rice said during a phone call from his home. “It’s been real successful and a lot of fun.”

Rice was born in Danville, but his family moved to California when he was very young. “I don’t remember moving from Danville to California,” he said.

California is where Rice’s father introduced him to bluegrass music and where he learned from Los Angeles pickers including the Kentucky Colonels led by Roland and Clarence White.

Rice said he rented a house in Rockingham County around 1991 and was splitting his time between there and his home in Florida until a flood in 1993 wiped out the Florida house and he moved to Wentworth permanently.

“In 1995, I was given the prerogative that I had to buy this place or move and I thought it would be so much easier on my nerves to not have to move so I bought it,” he said. “I’ve been here ever since.”

Rice describes North Carolina as a good fit for him because it’s a hotbed of music related to bluegrass and other genres. And that’s where Merlefest comes in.

“I remember the first year I played at Merlefest very well,” he said. “It was originally a fundraiser benefit for the Merle Watson Memorial Garden for the Senses and it has slowly evolved over the years. That first year had a handful of acts of notoriety in the world of bluegrass on a smaller scale than commercial music. Beyond that it just grew and grew and grew.”

This year nearly 80,000 fans are expected to be on hand to hear nearly 100 acts on 15 stages, according to the Merlefest web site. The festival features the varied sounds of bluegrass, Americana, gospel, blues, folk, Celtic, Cajun and mariachi music.  Merlefest honors the memory of instrumental virtuoso Eddy Merle Watson and the contributions of Doc Watson and the entire Watson family to the musical traditions of the region and nation and is the college’s biggest fundraiser bringing in $8,446,057 to date, according to the web site.

Rice is known as one of bluegrass’ top instrumentalists and singers. Rice’s most recent recording for Rounder Records is The Bluegrass Guitar Collection and he did a recent recording session with Aaron Ramsey, the mandolin player for Mountain Heart.

Two years ago, Rice was featured as one of Merlefest’s highlights, in a special performance by Rice and Alison Krauss and Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, which celebrated the music of Rice’s then 35-year career.

“To me, his music was never built on anything but emotion,” Krauss is quoted as saying in Rice’s bio. “That’s what’s so addicting — the pictures and the feelings it brings to you. Everything is played so beautifully…Even though he’s so technically amazing, the reason you put those records on, at least for me, isn’t because of that. It’s emotional, and that’s why those records last. He just happens to be technically beautiful, at the same time, beyond anybody else.”

Lisa Snedeker is a freelance writer who lives in Madison, N.C.

Following are just a few of the acts scheduled for Merlefest 2009:

Watson Stage Artist Listing THURSDAY Scythian Bearfoot The Lovell Sisters The Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band Dailey and Vincent Travis Tritt and Jerry Douglas FRIDAY Welcome Home Super Jam hosted by The Duhks The Dixie Beeliners Ollabelle The Grascals Mountain Heart with Tony Rice Del McCoury Band The Waybacks with Special Guests SATURDAY New Generation Super Jam hosted by The Steeldrivers with The Dixie Beeliners, The Farewell Drifters and Cadillac Sky The Greencards Tift Merritt Blue Highway Docabilly Sam Bush Emmylou Harris SUNDAY Sierra Hull and Highway 111 Missy Raines and the New Hip The Carolina Chocolate Drops BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet Linda Ronstadt featuring Los Camperos de Nati Cano