The last time the Seldom Scene were invited to entertain people at The White House, rain prevented them from singing even one song. Well, when they got the opportunity to take a return engagement, the weather was a lot more pleasant and they were treated as special guests.

The majority of the guests at The White House special dinner last Monday (July 21) were members of the 2008 United States Olympic and Para-Olympic teams. Athletes such as Allyson Felix, Lauryn Williams, Sanya Richards, Bernard Lagat, Tyson Gay, Adam Nelson, Bryan Clay and Jeremy Wariner; and swimmers Michael Phelps, Larsen Jensen, Brendan Hansen, Natalie Coughlin, Katie Hoff, Christine Magnuson were given a fitting send off prior to the competitions next month in Beijing, China.

There were Ambassadors and other dignitaries also, alongside George W Bush and his wife, Laura. The President sat right up front, listening intently, perhaps thinking about the ole home place…?

Playing on a small stage in the Rose Garden, the Seldom Scene performed four songs, Old Train, Wait a Minute, the old Bob Dylan tune, It’s All Over Now Baby Blue and City of New Orleans. President Bush must have enjoyed what he heard as at the end he went onto the stage and requested “just one more.” Of course, they graciously obliged, after kidding that they said they didn’t know one more… they’re such kidders… and they launched into Nadine, in fact.

I wonder, at the end did they hand him a copy of their latest CD, SCENEchronized, only to find that he had a copy already?

Members of the band are Ben Eldridge on banjo; Dudley Connell on guitar, Lou Reid on mandolin, Fred Travers on dobro; and Ronnie Simpkins on bass. Thanks to Sally Love and Dudley Connell for the insight.

Footnote: (Weather Report) …

The rained-out event was a picnic on June 3rd, honouring the Executive Office and Cabinet staff. The weather in Washington DC during the daytime on the 21st was in the upper 90s, humidity about 120%, and it didn’t cool off too much when the sun went down. Fortunately, they played after sun set!

Few bluegrass bands have had the opportunities to perform for important persons that have been enjoyed by the Seldom Scene. Being based in Washington D.C. has obviously helped. But that alone wouldn’t be enough to recommend them for the gigs they’ve had. Their skill and competence as musicians, and their winsome stage manner have been deciding factors as well. Of course, being located in the nation’s capital has helped!

Last week the band had one of those rare opportunities. They were scheduled to perform Tuesday evening at the annual White House Lawn Picnic, to a crowd of around 1,000, including many congressmen and their families. The picnic was scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, but because of inclement weather, the Tuesday activities were called early and Wednesday activities were rescheduled to Thursday. The Band did get a full tour of the White House and a photo op with the President and First Lady.

They were invited to return on Thursday and perform with the Oak Ridge Boys, but had to decline. I’m told they are considering a performance at the White House in September. I wonder if the President has any bluegrass on his iPod?

Ben Eldridge, Dudley Connell and Fred Travers from Seldom Scene joined Bob Edwards on the radio last Saturday for his Bob Edwards Weekend show on PBS. The show was recorded just after the Grammy nominations were announced in December ‘07, and the interview starts with a discussion of them having received one for SCENEchronized.

The bulk of the interview is focused on how the Scene has made mixing hard core bluegrass with songs from well outside of the generally recognized boundaries of the genre. As Ben recalls from the old days, “There ain’t no rules.”

Long time fans will especially enjoy hearing Ben reminisce about the early days of the band, when they had no intention of touring or recording regularly.

Several clips from their new CD are featured during the discussion. The shows are not archived on the Bob Edwards show site, but the podcast can be downloaded for free from iTunes or StreamOS.

HT: Jake Schepps

In addition to the new Charlie Sizemore CD we highlighted yesterday, there are several other notable bluegrass projects released on August 14 that are worthy of your attention.

New from Rebel is Lovin’ Pretty Women from The Steep Canyon Rangers. We have mentioned this project a number of times recently, and now that it is available widely, we expect it will get a lot of attention. Clever songwriting and crisp execution mark this CD as a keeper.

You can hear audio samples on the band’s MySpace page, or check out their video bio with both live clips and CD audio.

Sugar Hill has SCENEchronized, the first new set from Seldom Scene in quite some time. Both long time fans and followers of a newer vintage should enjoy this CD. Even with Ben Eldridge as the lone original member, the song selections, arrangements and performances all bear the hallmarks that have set this band apart for more than 30 years.

More details on SCENEchronized can be found in our earlier post, and audio samples can be found in iTunes.

Also from Sugar Hill comes Sam Bush’s first live concert DVD, On The Road. It was recorded last August in Colorado, and features The Sam Bush Band in their element - live on stage. Featured are Scott Vestal on banjo (and banjo synth), Byron House on bass, Stephen Mougin on guitar, Chris Brown on drums, and Bush on mandolin, fiddle and lead vocals.

I could not find any video clips online, but there is a full track listing on Sam’s web site.

Great news for Seldom Scene fans…

SCENEchronized, their first CD of new recordings since 2000, is expected from Sugar Hill Records on August 14.

This new Scene project will contain 13 tracks, with songs from Paul Craft, Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, Merle Haggard and Donna Hughes. It also features a number of tributes to founding member, the late John Duffey, with refashioned versions of two songs he recorded with The Country Gentlemen and one he wrote and cut with the original Scene 34 years ago.

On this list is Katy Dear, one of my favorite Country Gentlemen songs ever. Current guitarist Dudley Connell explains how they came to choose this song, and record it with 3 part harmony start to finish.

“We all knew this one from the Gentlemen, and we would pull it out from time to time just for the sheer pleasure of harmonizing together.”

Lou Reid adds his homage to Duffey with a redo of This Morning At Nine, and Fred Travers sings Don’t Bother With White Satin, a John Duffey/Ann Hill composition that had appeared on their Act III album in 1973.

“I brought this song up with Duffey right after I joined the group [in 1995],” says Connell. “And he said that whenever he sang it, he only got a smattering of applause, so we never did it with Duffey. But now when we sing it live, it goes over really well.

Fred really nails it. I swear, it’s like he’s channeling Duffey.”

In true Seldom Scene fashion, they include a couple of rock/pop songs turned bluegrass: John Fogerty’s A Hundred And Ten In The Shade; Please Be With Me, recorded by both Eric Clapton and The Allman Brothers; Bob Dylan’s Tomorrow Is A Long Time.

Members of Seldom Scene are Dudley Connell (guitar), Lou Reid (mandolin), Fred Travers (dobro), Ronnie Simpkins (bass), and lone remaining original member, Ben Eldridge (banjo).

We couldn’t find any audio samples online yet, but we’ll be sure to post back when we do.

The three CD reissues from Rebel that we previewed last month are officially released today.

These include a first-time-on-CD reissue of JD Crowe’s classic Bluegrass Holiday, and compilations of new-to-CD Gospel cuts from Ralph Stanley, Mountain Preacher’s Child, and a budget-priced Seldom Scene compilation project, Different Roads.

More details about all three can be found in our earlier post.

You can listen to audio samples from Bluegrass Holiday, Mountain Preacher’s Child and Different Roads in the iTunes Music Store.

Rebel Records is continuing their laudable efforts to get classic LPs released on CD, and/or for digital download. Many serious bluegrass fans had feared that much of the recorded legacy of bluegrass music might become unavailable when digital media took the lead some years ago, but thankfully, the opposite has been the case.

Due on April 3 from Rebel is one great re-issue, and two compilations that will be welcome additions to many bluegrass CD libraries.

Bluegrass Holiday from JD Crowe was first released on LP by Lemco in 1969, was re-released on King Bluegrass in 1973, and yet again on rebel in 1981. The band featured Red Allen on guitar and lead vocals, Doyle lawson on mandolin and tenor vocal, Bobby Slone on bass and fiddl and Crowe on banjo and baritone vocals.

Recorded in just two days in December 1968, this record introduced Crowe and his Kentucky Mountain Boys to a bluegrass audience outside of Lexington, KY where they had a successful regular club show at a Holiday Inn - hence the album’s name.

Material on this debut release was taken from their Holiday Inn set list, and included a number of bluegrass standards (My Little Girl In Tennessee, Before I Met You, Orange Blossom Special, Train 45) plus some of their arrangements of songs like Philadelphia Lawyer and Will You Be satisfied That Way.

The Rebel CD re-issue also contains four bonus tracks, previously released as 45 RPM singles from King, and not found on the original LPs, including the original Crowe recording of Black Jack.

Fans of Ralph Stanley’s Gospel music have much to rejoice with the release of Mountain Preacher’s Child. This anthology includes 14 tracks from his 1980s Rebel LPs, all available for the first time on CD. They are taken from previous Stanley records I’ll Wear A White Robe, Snow Covered Mound and I Can tell You The Time.

This is the plaintive, almost primitive vocal sound that has drawn so many fans to Dr. Ralph in recent years, here featuring one of his stronger singing groups. (more…)

There has been a good bit of anticipation building up in the bluegrass world, awaiting the release next week of Slidin’ Home, the debut release from John Starling & Carolina Star. Starling is joined in this new endeavor by his original Seldom Scene bandmates Mike Auldridge and Tom Gray, a group whose popularity has endured even as it has been through an almost complete overhaul in membership over more than 30 years performing under that name.

Rebel Records announced yesterday that the entire project can be previewed at CMT.com, where advance orders for Slidin’ Home can also be placed for shipment on the February 20 release date. At that point, the CD will be available wherever bluegrass and acoustic music are sold.

Hard core fans of bluegrass supergroup Seldom Scene are inclined to the sort of internecine squabbles that occur among folks fiercely loyal to their favorite sports team. To wit, the familiar arguments about which edition of the team was the best, and whether the boys on the field in the 60s would have beaten those from the 80s.

For Scene fans, the disputes are about whether the original band (Starling, Auldridge, Eldridge, Duffey and Gray) has ever been eclipsed by the many fine lineups that followed, or the first rate band now performing under that name, with Ben Eldridge the sole founding member on stage.

Taking no side in this dispute, I can predict that Seldom Scene originalists will have much to cheer in the February release of Slidin’ Home, from John Starling & Carolina Star. In addition to Starling, the band includes Scene founders Mike Auldridge and Tom Gray, plus Jimmie Gaudreau and Ricky Simpkins.

They were assisted on the new CD by Emmy Lou Harris, who has been a long time duet partner with Starling. She joins him on In My Hour Of Darkness, a song she co-wrote with Gram Parsons. Other tracks include Starling’s take on Lowell George’s classic anthem, Willin’ and Waitin’ For A Train.

Starling says that they dedicated a lot of effort to utilizing modern recording technology in ways that would enhance a live, living room sort of feel.

“For the new project, we felt that modern, high-resolution digital recording and mixing techniques, a good acoustic environment and musician practice prior to, not on, recording day, would once again make the process fun for everybody. And I knew Mike and Tom were the type of world-class musicians who could pull this off.

We were able to really capture the energy and excitement that comes from playing live. We had really high expectations going into this, but I think the new record exceeds everything we wanted to accomplish.”

There are a couple of audio samples from Slidin’ Home on the band’s MySpace page, which also lists some show dates where the band will be appearing next year.

Slidin’ Home is scheduled for a February 20, 2007 release on Rebel Records. Radio service is anticipated shortly after the new year.