# Backwaters guitar solo > The guitar solo on Backwaters by Tony Rice Unit (1982). Watch from the solo, plus the story and gear. A bluegrass classic from the 1980s. Canonical URL: Tony Rice Unit, 1982. Solo by *Tony Rice*. Rice continues his acoustic jazz-grass direction with long, harmonically adventurous lines. Backwaters continues Tony Rice's acoustic jazz-grass direction, with long, harmonically adventurous lines that stretch the boundaries of bluegrass. His solos move through complex chord changes with fluid ease, drawing on jazz vocabulary while keeping a strong bluegrass pulse. The tone is big and warm, with remarkable clarity even in fast passages. The Tony Rice Unit's sound remains distinctive, blending acoustic instruments with sophisticated arrangements. The piece shows Rice's continued growth as an improviser. Listen for the long, flowing lines that seem to float over the chords, and for the way Rice returns to the melody after each exploration, grounding the music. Backwaters by Tony Rice Unit is featured in our Bluegrass (#18) list. The solo is played by Tony Rice and the song was released in 1982. ## In our lists - [The 20 Greatest Bluegrass Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/bluegrass/) — #18 - [Top 20 Guitar Solos of 1982](https://greatestsolos.com/list/best-guitar-solos-1982/) — #13 ## Sources ### Who played the guitar solo on Backwaters? Tony Rice played the solo on Tony Rice Unit's Backwaters (1982). --- GreatestSolos ranks the greatest guitar solos by consensus across published lists. Agent guide: [llms.txt](https://greatestsolos.com/llms.txt) · [Sitemap](https://greatestsolos.com/sitemap.xml) · [Dataset (CSV)](https://greatestsolos.com/data/greatest-guitar-solos.csv) · [How we rank](https://greatestsolos.com/method/)