The Seldom Scene

The Seldom Scene is an American bluegrass band.

The Seldom Scene formed in 1971 in Washington, D.C., with mandolinist John Duffey, banjo player Ben Eldridge, guitarist John Starling, dobro player Mike Auldridge, and bassist Tom Gray. Duffey, a musical instrument repairman, was the driving force behind the band's creation, as he had grown weary of long road tours during his ten years with the Bluegrass group Charlie Waller and the Country Gentlemen. He chose only other musicians with demanding day jobs that would prevent them from travelling beyond the Washington area on tour; Starling was a surgeon, Eldridge a mathematician, Auldridge a graphic artist, and Gray a cartographer with the National Geographic. The group's name was intended as a joke on the idea that they wouldn't be seen much on stage, initially playing only once a week at Bethesda, Maryland or Alexandria, Virginia. This didn't last long.

Bluegrass was just reaching a second peak in popularity in the early 1970s, and The Seldom Scene was at the time the most progressive and wide-ranging band playing in the genre. Their weekly shows included Bluegrass versions of country music, rock, and even classical pop. The band's popularity soon forced them to play more than once a week--but they continued to maintain their image as being seldom seen, and on several of their early album covers were photographed with the stage lights on only their feet, or with their backs to the camera.

Though the Scene remained a non-touring band, they were prolific recorders, producing seven albums in their first five years of existence, including two live albums (among the first live Bluegrass albums). But the band's philosophy of not touring and maintaining their day jobs eventually caused some changes in membership.

In 1977, John Starling left the group to focus on his medical career, and was replaced by singer and songwriter Phil Rosenthal, whose song "Muddy Water" had been recorded by the Scene on two earlier albums. Around the same time, the group switched record labels from Rebel Records to Sugar Hill; however, while Starling had been officially the band's frontman, these changes made little significant difference to the band's overall sound.

The band recorded several more albums in the 1980s and firmly established themselves as the most influential band in Bluegrass. In 1986, Rosenthal and Tom Gray both left the band to focus on other pursuits, and were replaced by Lou Reid and T. Michael Coleman, respectively. Coleman proved to be very controversial, as many purists objected to his use of an electric bass in what is an acoustic genre, but the albums produced by the band after Coleman's arrival maintained the tradtional appeal of any of the Scene's earlier albums.

Then Reid left the band in 1993, to be replaced with former member John Starling. Starling only stayed with the group for a year, but he did record an album with the group, "Like We Used to Be." He was replaced in 1994 by lead singer Mondi Klein.

Throughout these changes, John Duffey had remained the group's spiritual center and greatest influence, and his initial ideas about keeping a light touring schedule and staying close to home continued to prevail. This eventually caused some notable dissension in the ranks, and in 1995 and 1996 Klein and Coleman, along with original member dobroist Mike Auldridge, left the group to form a new band called Chesapeake, which was to become a full-time project for them.

Duffey and Ben Eldridge recruited dobroist Fred Travers, bassist Ronnie Simpkins, and guitarist and singer Dudley Connell to join the band, and the reconstituted group recorded an album in 1996 and continued making live appearances. Then tragedy struck in 1998, when John Duffey suddenly died of a heart attack.

For a while it seemed the Seldom Scene was finished. Duffey had formed the group and been its leader for most of its existence, and was widely recognized as one of the most powerful and entertaining stage performers in Bluegrass. Nonetheless, the band was too popular to disappear, and the remaining members recruited former guitarist Lou Reid to play mandolin for the band.

Banjoist Eldridge, the only remaining founding member of the band and a significant force in banjo music in his own right, became the new bandleader, and the group recorded a new album in 2000. The Seldom Scene continues to tour in the Washington area and record with the Sugar Hill label.

Discography

• Act I (1972)
• Act Two (1973)
• Act 3 (1973)
• Old Train (1974)
• Live at the Cellar Door (1975)
• Recorded Live (1975)
• The New Seldom Scene Album (1976)
• Baptizing (1978)
• Act Four (1978)
• After Midnight (1981)
• At the Scene (1983)
• Blue Ridge (1985)
• The Best of the Seldom Scene, Vol 1 (1987)
• 15th Anniversary Celebration (1988)
• Change of Scenery (1988)
• Scenic Roots (1990)
• Scene 20: 20th Anniversary Concert (1991)
• Like We Used to Be (1994)
• Dream Scene (1996)
• Scene it All (2000)