Saturday in Lebanon, NH was cold and raw. The wind whipped through our clothes and our ears turned red as we walked across the street to the AVA gallery. Inside the gallery was warm and cozy as the afternoon’s workshops began. At 1:00 PM four workshops were attended by small, but interested groups. Steve Hennig reprised his successful banjo workshop of last year. Rich Heepe held a session called “A Bit of Festival” and Rich Hamilton attracted a couple of fiddlers to his “Fiddlin’” session. Ford Daley continued last year’s seminar trying to answer the unanswerable question, “What is Bluegrass About Anyway?”
Around three o’clock the Grascals came over for their workshop. I chatted briefly with Jamie Johnson who told me Danny Roberts, the superb mandolinist, was not on this trip because his wife, Andrea, had been rear ended while visiting relatives in Indiana. I gather she’s been released from the hospital, but Danny was, as Jamie said, “Where he ought to be.” Regardless, this put pressure on the other two instrumental players Jeremy Abshire on fiddle and the Kristin Scott Benson on banjo, who was making her first appearance with The Grascals.
The evening’s performance featured two of bluegrass music’s most entertaining groups. The Grascals led off the evening with one of their characteristically high energy programs featuring songs from their new CD Keep on Walkin’ as well as popular favorites from their other two CDs. Although they have only been together as a group for four years, the Grascals have been awarded IBMA’s Emerging Artist of the Year as well as two Entertainer of the Year awards. Kristin Scott Benson made her debut with The Grascals on Saturday night. During the stage performance, she was nearly flawless. She worked the mic well, played powerful breaks and wonderful backup with great tone and timing.
Perhaps because The Seldom Scene lives up to its name, any appearance they make is eagerly anticipated by their legion of fans and newcomers who discover them. Since their formation in 1971, the group has maintained a policy of keeping close to their Washington, D.C base and travelling rarely while recording frequently. They have created a characteristic sound and led bluegrass music in adapting songs from other genres to bluegrass. They remain, after 37 years, on the cutting edge of bluegrass music.
Ben Eldridge, at seventy still an active and inventive dynamo on the banjo, not only provides a link to the past, but continues to be an anchor for the band’s music and mix of humor and musical strength. Fred Travers on Dobro has a pure, clear tenor voice reminiscent of [the deceased band founder Joe] Duffey while never trying to imitate him. Ronnie Simpkins on bass is filled with good humor and a strong beat for the band, as well as having a strong bass voice for quartets. Lou Reid, who is with The Seldom Scene for a second go round, plays fine mandolin and contributes a flexible voice which is fine for both lead singing and adding to the band’s tight harmonies. Dudley Connell, on lead vocals and guitar, brings a foundation in very traditional bluegrass with the Johnson Mountain Boys but in The Seldom Scene has easily adapted to a more progressive sound. His genial personality, fu Manchu moustache, granny spectacles, and wonderful smile all remind fans of the band’s connection to the seventies while still placing it in a thoroughly contemporary vein.
With the 2nd Annual Upper Valley Bluegrass Festival, Lebanon Opera House Executive Director Heather Clow, has firmly established a format began last year under different management. The festival mixes staunchly traditional bluegrass with genre busting groups to create a mixture of styles and sounds with broad appeal.
[This is an excerpt from Ted Lehmann's Bluegrass, Books and Brainstorms. Read the full review.]
