With the gradual departure of most of its original members and the sudden and untimely death of mandolinist/singer/founder
John Duffey in late 1996, one might forgive
the Seldom Scene if it had just given up the ghost. But instead, the sole remaining original member (banjoist
Ben Eldridge) gathered some of the more recent participants around him (guitarist
Dudley Connell, mandolinist
Lou Reid, bassist
Ronnie Simpkins, and Dobro player
Fred Travers) and made one of the better
Seldom Scene albums of the last 20 years. The band's reputation as a "progressive" bluegrass band remains intact, though now with a tighter focus: no synthesizers, no electric instruments. But the unusual song selections are still there, from
Bruce Springsteen's "One Step Up" to
Muddy Waters' "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and the
Chuck Berry chestnut "Nadine." As it turns out, those are not the album's high points. Although the band's rendition of "Rollin' and Tumblin'" works very well, the
Springsteen tune doesn't sit very comfortably in its arrangement, and "Nadine" is a disaster -- the banjo has to play painfully slowly to support the song's rhythm. But the
Bill Monroe ("Blue and Lonesome") and
Jim & Jesse ("I Will Always Be Waiting for You") numbers are standouts, and the funky bluegrass gospel of "You Better Get Right" is also superb. Maybe it's time for
the Seldom Scene to go "acid grass" for good. ~ Rick Anderson