The Seldom Scene\u2019s all gospel record, Baptizing<\/i>, marks the end of the \u201cclassic\u201d lineup of the group.\u00a0 John Starling was about to leave to return to his medical practice full time, and Phil Rosenthal, who would soon take Starling\u2019s place completely, is incorporated as a full member of the band on this album. Despite the looming departure of such a notable sounding lead singer, the group did well to add Rosenthal prior to this change to smooth out the transition.\u00a0 The resulting album should be ranked as one of the best bluegrass gospel collections ever produced.<\/p>\n
The song selections on Baptizing<\/i> are decidedly traditional, with the group choosing to sing bluegrass gospel more in the vein of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs and the Stanleys, rather than veering towards country music as they had done on their previous studio album.\u00a0 Plus, a rocking version of Albert E. Brumley\u2019s \u201cBy The Side Of The Road\u201d opens the album and gives the Scene their strongest album opener since \u201cRaised By The Railroad Line\u201d from Act 1<\/i>.\u00a0 The addition of Phil Rosenthal also gave the group a more prolific songwriter, and he contributes three originals to the project which sit well alongside the traditionals and classics.\u00a0 In fact, \u201cTake Him In\u201d and \u201cWalk With Him Again\u201d are just as powerful as the Hank Williams penned classic \u201cWill You Be Ready To Go Home.\u201d <\/p>\n
The vocal trio of Starling, Duffey, and Auldridge is still pristine on \u201cDreaming Of A Little Cabin,\u201d which is a good song as far as sappy mother-themed songs go.\u00a0 \u201cFallen Leaves\u201d and \u201cHe Took Your Place\u201d are both stellar vocally and musically.\u00a0 But the real cream of the crop on this album is a nearly a capella version of \u201cWere You There?\u201d\u00a0 I say \u201cnearly a capella\u201d because the guitar comes in softly and almost sneaks into the song after the first a cappella verse, and continues softly through the song before having a mandolin solo slap you in the face during a break between verses.\u00a0 John Duffey\u2019s lead vocals are emotive and he launches into the heavens with his high lead on the chorus.\u00a0 This song has been done by many artists and can be over-produced or dripping in syrupy sweet vibrato and staged emotion.\u00a0 This version tops them all and with its simple delivery prevents itself from being a caricature of religious music as other versions have done.<\/p>\n
This album is excellent for several reasons: song selection, performance, and an excellent transition piece for a band that was losing a founding member and a strong lead vocalist.\u00a0 This album is one of the go-to examples for bluegrass gospel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":30958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8831],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-42638","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-seldom-scene","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42638","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=42638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42638"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}