Master bluegrass guitarist Tony Rice dies aged 69

Tony Rice, a "giant of the acoustic guitar", and "the master bluegrass picker", has died at the age of 69 on Christmas morning, NPR reports. Rice, famous for the quick, fluid sounds was "the king of the flatpicked flattop guitar... I don’t know if a person can make anything more beautiful", Jason Isbell writes on his Twitter. Ricky Skaggs, who had performed and recorded with Rice, called him “the single most influential acoustic guitar player in the last 50 years”. Other tributes came from musician Béla Fleck and the comedian and longtime banjo player Steve Martin. Rice released dozens of albums, and he played with everyone from Jerry Garcia to Dolly Parton and received many honours.