One of the founding members, banjo player BEN ELDRIDGE, has been with The Seldom Scene since its inception, and he still performs with the same fire and enthusiasm that characterized the band's early days as a progressive group that took Bluegrass music to new heights. DUDLEY CONNELL plays a masterful guitar and provides powerful lead vocals for The Scene, which has a reputation for challenging the bounds of Bluegrass; and Connell's musical virtuosity has pushed the group beyond these bounds. Audiences delight in Connell's renditions of traditional songs like "Old Train", folk ballads such as "Blue Diamond Mine", and blues songs like "Rollin' and Tumblin'". Connell is a former member of The Johnson Mountain Boys. Playing Dobro for The Scene is one of the most respected dobro players on the Bluegrass scene today, FRED TRAVERS. He is also an accomplished vocalist who brings solid lead and harmony to The Scene. Travers is a former member of the Gary Ferguson Band. RONNIE SIMPKINS plays rock-steady bass for the group and provides the bass vocals in The Scene's quartets as well. Simpkins has been performing Bluegrass music since childhood and is a former member of The Tony Rice Unit. LOU REID, who plays mandolin for The Scene and provides the tenor vocals, is also a former member of Ricky Scaggs Band, Quicksilver, and he currently fronts his own group Carolina. On lead, or when providing harmony, Reid's vocals are the epitome of the powerful, "high, lonesome" tenor that is the signature of Bluegrass music. Photography by Michael Stewart
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