After the incredible work done on their first album, Act 1<\/i>, the Seldom Scene return in 1973 for Act 2<\/i>, which is no less impressive than their first venture.\u00a0 While on Act 1<\/i> the group hinted that their repertoire was going to be wholly different from the traditional bluegrass template, pulling in mainstream folk and even pop music, Act 2<\/i> sees the group wading a little deeper into the pool.<\/p>\n
It must be understood that 1972 bluegrass music still contained much of the original Bill Monroe sound or high, lonesome twang that many associate with the music.\u00a0 But hailing from the Washington D.C. area, the only thing tying the Seldom Scene to that particular sound was a love and respect for the music in general.\u00a0 But their execution of it with a more modern flare and the introduction of more mainstream songs led by a velvet-voiced John Starling did much to make bluegrass music what it is today.\u00a0 The group still holds to the old ways with the brother duet sounding \u201cThe Sweetest Gift,\u201d and the Earl Scruggs-penned “I’ve Lost You,” but they also offer an incredible version of John Prine\u2019s \u201cParadise,\u201d and a cover of “Hello Mary Lou” which would make the listener think that the song was actually written for bluegrass.\u00a0 And there is the oddly placed, banjo-picked “Lara’s Theme” from Doctor Zhivago.<\/i><\/p>\n
Act 2<\/i> opens with a train themed song as did Act 1<\/i>.\u00a0 Norman Blake\u2019s “Last Train From Poor Valley” is a lament not only of the loss of jobs in a once booming coal town, but also of a materialistic girl leaving her man behind in that squalor.\u00a0 They group also slows down for the folk flavored “Keep Me From Blowin Away.”<\/p>\n
Without a doubt “Small Exception Of Me” is the true standout of the album.\u00a0 John Duffey pulls off a stunning performance which would be hard to top.\u00a0 The three part harmonies, Mike Auldridge\u2019s dobro, and Ben Eldridge\u2019s banjo picking are simply beautiful.\u00a0 With similarly beautiful dexterity, the Scene dust off one of the best religious tunes that Hank Williams wrote, \u201cHouse Of Gold\u201d to wrap up the album.<\/p>\n
With Act 2<\/i>, the Seldom Scene firmly cemented their place in bluegrass music.\u00a0 Although they were still trying to hold onto their day jobs, it would not be long before they were no longer seldom seen as their name implied, and they certainly became much loved.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":30929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8831],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-42608","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-seldom-scene","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42608"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}