Rounder records will release a Tony Rice disc titled “Night Flyer: The Singer-Songwriter Collection” August 5. Photo by Thomas Stout.

Burlington, MA— No other guitarist in the last thirty years has had a greater impact on acoustic music than Tony Rice. The new Rounder compilation, Night Flyer: The Singer-Songwriter Collection, due August 5, contains a broad selection of the music icon’s engaging vocal tunes taken from several of his albums – as well as three previously unreleased tracks – and demonstrates the wide range of non-bluegrass material that he incorporated into his signature sound.

Night Flyer: The Singer-Songwriter Collection kicks off with the previously unreleased Rice original “Never Meant to Be,” a venting of his feelings in the aftermath of the breakup of a long-term marriage with a sad, bitter tone that is completely real in its sense of unresolved hurt and anger. In addition, a version of Gordon Lightfoot’s “Changes” is found here, and opens with a sublime guitar intro, with perfect counterpoint by the Dobro of Jerry Douglas. Also included in this collection are Joni Mitchell’s “Urge for Going,” James Taylor’s “Me and My Guitar,” John Mayall’s “Nightflyer,” Bob Dylan’s “Sweetheart Like You,” and Tom Waits’ “Pony.”

With his signature subtle touch, beautiful tone, amazing speed and imaginative phrasing, Rice has inspired guitarists far and wide for decades, as both a peerless lead player and the quintessential rhythm player. His inventive approach encompasses many acoustic music genres in addition to bluegrass, including jazz, blues, classical, folk, and swing, as is evident in his numerous solo and collaborative recordings. Twice nominated for a Grammy Award, he won for Best Country Instrumental Performance in 1983 as a member of The New South.

“To me, his music was never built on anything but emotion. 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.” Alison Krauss

Featured and accompanying musicians on this collection include Larry Atamanuik, Cole Burgess, Sam Bush, Kathy Chiavola, Vassar Clements, Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Jimmy Gaudreau, Todd Phillips, Wyatt Rice, Mark Schatz, and Bill Wolf.

Night Flyer: The Singer-Songwriter Collection Track Listing:

1. Never Meant to Be*
2. Urge for Going
3. Me and My Guitar
4. St. James Hospital
5. John Wilkes Booth
6. Four Strong Winds
7. Nightflyer
8. All the Way to Texas
9. About Love*
10. Changes
11. Sweetheart Like You
12. Green Light on the Southern
13. Hard Love
14. Why You Been Gone So Long
15. Wayfaring Stranger
16. Likes of Me
17. Pony*

* Previously unreleased track

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BlueHighway “Through the Window of a Train” (Rounder)

Burlington, MA – Rounder Records is pleased to announce that many of its artists will be performing at MerleFest on April 24–27 in Wilkesboro, NC. MerleFest began in the spring of 1988 and has grown from two flat-bed trailers and 4,000 attendees to 13 stages with more than 81,500 festival participants. This “one time, one night, one man show,” according to MerleFest Executive Director B. Townes, has turned into one of the largest American roots festivals in the country. A complete list of Rounder performances is below. For more information and stage schedules, visit www.merlefest.org.

Blue Highway (Thursday & Friday, April 24 & 25)
One of the most esteemed groups in contemporary bluegrass, Blue Highway excels at every facet of the music, from instrumental dexterity to impeccable vocal interplay to literate, powerful songwriting. Individually, Jason Burleson (banjo, guitar, mandolin), Rob Ickes (Dobro), Shawn Lane (mandolin, fiddle, vocals), Tim Stafford (guitar, vocals), and Wayne Taylor (bass, vocals) are at the forefront of the genre, appearing on innumerable projects as sidemen, songwriters, and solo artists. Their latest album, Through the Window of a Train was released in February and finds the band continuing to grow and mature in all areas. Blue Highway has released eight acclaimed albums, received a Grammy nomination for their album Wondrous Love, topped the Bluegrass Unlimited radio charts, and won an astonishing 13 International Bluegrass Music Association awards (individually and collectively).

Blue Highway “Through the Window of A Train” CD Review on BluegrassJournal.com

Sierra Hull & Highway 111 (Friday & Saturday, April 25 & 26)

Beginning at eight years old, Sierra Hull has become an adored and respected young mandolin picker in bluegrass circles. Since then, the 16-year old Hull has competed in and won numerous mandolin and guitar championships, showcased at The International Bluegrass Music Association’s World of Bluegrass, and was a featured performer on the Great High Mountain Tour, which included an all-star bluegrass lineup (with Alison Krauss, Ralph Stanley, and others), that performed songs from the soundtracks of O Brother Where Art Thou and Cold Mountain. On May 6, Rounder Records will release Secrets, her national debut album. Secrets was co-produced by Hull and Ron Block (Union Station) and features Block, Dan Tyminski, Barry Bales, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Tony Rice, Jim VanCleve, Rob Ickes, Chris Jones, Jason Moore, and 17-year-old banjo whiz Cory Walker (who is also in Sierra’s band, Highway 111).

The Claire Lynch Band (Saturday & Sunday, April 26 & 27)

Claire Lynch has long been recognized as a creative influence in bluegrass music – first for her early years with Alabama’s Front Porch String Band (which was labeled as “a musical force to be reckoned with” by John Starling) and later for her superb singing and songwriting. Two of her five albums on Rounder have been nominated for a Grammy® and, among her many other nominations, she won the IBMA Award for “Female Vocalist of the Year” in 1997. Her latest album, Crowd Favorites, was released in October and is a collection of some of the most-requested songs from Claire Lynch’s impressively rich repertoire.

Claire Lynch “Crowd Favorites” CD Review on BluegrassJournal.com

Tony Rice (Friday & Saturday, April 25 & 26)

Tony Rice spans the range of acoustic music, from straight-ahead bluegrass to jazz-influenced new acoustic music, to songwriter-oriented folk. He is perhaps the greatest innovator in acoustic flatpicked guitar since Clarence White. Over the course of his career, he has played alongside J.D. Crowe and the New South, David Grisman (during the formation of “Dawg Music”), led his own groups, collaborated with fellow picker Norman Blake and recorded with his brothers. Rice remains one of bluegrass’ top instrumentalists, bringing originality and vitality to everything he plays.

The Dan Tyminski Band (Sunday, April 27)

Dynamic on stage, down to earth off stage, Dan Tyminski has the voice, instrumental chops, and charisma to be counted among the most recognizable and popular male vocalists on today’s bluegrass and country music scenes. Since 1994, his ace instrumental skill (mainly on guitar, but also on mandolin) and burnished, soulful tenor singing has been a key component of Alison Krauss and Union Station, arguably the most visible and successful bluegrass band in the modern era. Prior to that, he rose to national prominence as a member of bluegrass favorite, the Lonesome River Band. With Union Station on hiatus for most of 2008, Tyminski has formed a new incarnation of the Dan Tyminski Band, with whom he is releasing his new album Wheels on June 17. This new edition includes longtime Union Station associate Barry Bales (bass), former Union Station and Mountain Heart member Adam Steffey (mandolin), sideman extraordinaire Ron Stewart (banjo, fiddle), and newcomer Justin Moses (fiddle, dobro).

Rhonda Vincent & The Rage (Saturday, April 26)
The reigning queen of bluegrass, Rhonda Vincent, was born with music inside of her. She inherited timeless bluegrass strains from her family and the hills of her Missouri homeland. You can hear them echo every time she sings, or when she runs her hands across a mandolin, guitar, or fiddle. Yet Vincent’s music is a transformation of tradition – a very modern manifestation of her roots in classic bluegrass, refracted through her very real experiences as a bandleader, musician, songwriter, mother, wife, and woman. Rounder released her latest album Good Thing Going in January and it is Vincent’s most personal album to date. With hope, resilience, and gratitude, Vincent presents a set of songs that range from timelessly straight-ahead bluegrass to effervescent swing and heartfelt ballads.

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Rhonda Vincent and The Rage on stage at Bluegrass First Class in Asheville, NC 2008. Photo by Thomas Stout.

Tony Rice on stage at Bluegrass First Class in Asheville, NC 2008. Photo by Thomas Stout.

Tony Rice on stage at Bluegrass First Class in Asheville, NC 2008. Photo by Thomas Stout.

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Doc Watson on Stage at Bluegrass First Class in Asheville, NC 2008. Photo by Thomas Stout

Doc Watson and Jack Lawrence on Stage at Bluegrass First Class in Asheville, NC 2008. Photo by Thomas Stout.

J.D. Crowe and Tony Rice on stage at Bluegrass First Class in Asheville, NC 2008. Photo by Thomas Stout.

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Tony Rice guitar , Jerry Douglas dobro , Sam Bush mandolin , Mark o’Connor fiddle and Béla Fleck on banjo doin’ a smokin’ version of “Freeborn Man”

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