Tony Rice Unit

[Tremolo]

Anyone have any idea who's playing in Tony's unit nowadays? For his last tour, I recall that some of the guys were from lonesome river band. Just wondering because I'm probably gonna go see the unit tomorrow night at the Birchmere in Va.

[AlanN]

Then let us cafe folks know who's in the band.

[Tremolo]

It was Ricky and Ronnie Simpkins, and Tony's brother Wyatt...Great show. Ricky played the mando: He's a pretty good picker. They did a beautiful version of Waltz of Indira which is engrained in my mind.

[Scotti Adams]

..I guess that explains why Wyatt wasnt with Ronnie Bowman at SPBGMA...hes the regular guitar player....Ronnie had to play the geetar...

[chirorehab]

Funny Rickie Simpkins story & why he is playing mando:

I was at an Active Release Technique (http://www.activerelease.com) conference in New Jersey. ART is a great soft tissue technique that I use with my patients with any problem (shoulder pain, overuse syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, low back & neck pain to name a few).

Dr. Leahy (the developer of ART & official chiropractor for the Denver Broncos) usually does a case management at the conferences. #Usually a local doctor brings in a difficult case. Well, the case happened to be a fiddle player from Kentucky with a shoulder problem!

During a break, I went up to the fiddle player and asked him who he played with (I walked in a few minutes late & missed that info.) #He told me that he played with the TRU! I was in shock and said "Are you Rickie Simpkins?" He said yes!

It was so funny, because there were over 100 people there and I was the only one who knew who he was!

Even better, I was checking out of my hotel room (hence the lateness!), and had my mando on me! So, I asked him to pick a tune! #He obliged, I was in too much shock to realize what he played. #But he did say that he liked the sound of my MK!

He said that he would be playing mando on this tour b/c of his shoulder.

It took me a couple of hours to come down from that experience!!

Eric

[jim simpson]

Did anyone here catch Tony at the Sellersville Theater (Bucks Co., PA) last Saturday night (the 7th)? I would have been there but for a mandatory business conference in Las Vegas. I would rather have paid to see TRU than feeding them slot machines.
"OOh Las Vegas, Ain't no place for a poor boy like me" GP
Jim

[Strado Len]

Jim:

I went to the Tony Rice Unit show in Sellersville. It was an terrific concert. Tony was in fine form, even though he said that due to medical problems he had not played for two months. Rickie Simpkins played only one tune on the fiddle (Shenandoah), though he was quite good on the mandolin. There was no mention of Rickie's shoulder problem.

For me, the only thing missing was Tony's once fine voice. I find it interesting that Tony now chooses to perform in a strictly instrumental setting. I would have liked to hear a few vocals, even if they weren't Tony.

[ethanopia]

I have the TRU show from 01-11-03 on CD and it's the same pickers as mentioned above. It isn't all instrumental though, they do a couple vocal tunes but it sure ain't Tony signing. At any rate it sounds awesome. They will be coming to the Ohio Expo Center in May, and I can't wait, Im not sure what event it is for though. Porbaby like the National Turkey Hunter's Association of something...

-e