Seldom Scene Plays Nottoway
2 July 2009, Fairfax County, Virginia
Nottoway Park, (near Vienna, Virginia): The Seldom Scene made its annual free concert appearance on the portable "Nottoway Nights" stage this evening and opened up with jokes about rainstorms - for good reason. Every time the group is scheduled it seems the performances are always up against monumental storms of some sort or another. Last night was a change - a perfect summer evening that got downright cool towards nightfall. The band is famous in these parts, or more to the point, famous nationally. When you consider Bluegrass three names come to mind - Ralph Stanley, The Country Gentlemen, and The Seldom Scene. The Seldom Scene probably had more to do with changing America's collective mind about the genre than any other musical force during the 70's and 80's. I remember my college days. I was working for the campus newspaper and the editor gave me the task of doing record and theatre reviews. Nobody else wanted to do it and I got a lot of free tickets and free records. We saw a lot of free ballet and opera during those times of trying to raise a child and live on the G.I. Bill. Two records came into the office one day: "Will the Circle be Unbroken" and "Old Train." That started it for me, and who would ever guess that bluegrass music would ever make such a resurgence in this country? Then come to find out I was living in the midst of some of the best bluegrass music and bands around. We are surely blessed living here in Virginia, if you dig the music. I still like my opera and ballet music - but for purity of acoustic brilliance and story-telling, Appalachian-based mountain music grounds me in my quest for the authentic. It can go astray at times - leaning toward the more crowd-pleasing modern 'country' crap and I'm sometimes disappointed when a good group will pander to the wider audience by including numbers that sound like they were just imported from Nashville. In the old days (of the 70's and 80's!) a wider audience recognized that the Seldom Scene was different - they were sticking to the basics, even if they were developing those basic bluegrass music components into a fine-tuned perfection. They remain fine-tuned perfection and that's probably why they are so nationally recognized. They are still a joy to listen to - but me? I'd rather be in Big Stone Gap listening to some locals beating out rhythms on handed-down instruments and singing gut-wrenching songs about hangings and love-gone-wrong.
(Nottoway Nights performances continue every Thursday night at Nottoway Park throughout the summer. Brought to you through County Parks funding and the generous support of local company sponsors. I was shocked to see the slim list of this year's commercial supporters - a sign of the tough economic times. Dig deep Brothers and Sisters! It would be a real community shame if the Fairfax County Parks entertainment programs had to discontinue. . . . .)
