"Live at the Cellar Door" - one of Bluegrass music's great albums?

When I try and figure out how I got so involved in traditional music, and the albums (yes all vinyl in those days) that led me down that road there are a few that stand out.   It was a slippery slope from The Doors, Beatles, Alice Cooper, and The Dead to Bill Monore and Uncle's Earl and Dave, and beyond to Irish Trad.   Some of the early influences after the Dead were David Bromberg, The Flying Buritto Brothers, Gram Parsons, and the New Riders.    They all drew heavily from traditional music.    Then came "Will the Circle be Unbroken" which opened many doors.    But one album stood out back in then - the Seldom Scene's "Live at the Cellar Door".   I wore that one out from 100's of plays.   It led me to many other bands and musicians and gave me a footprint for how I would want to perform and play.



 If you didn't like Bluegrass before listening to this, you will after.    I don't think there has been a more perfect blend of musicians performing bluegrass since this band.  Most studio recordings never have the same energy and intimacy as a live performance, and this album catches the band at it's peak.   Unlike many other Bluegrass performers (if you have ever sat through a Doyle Lawson sound check you know what I mean) , they come across on this album as a great group of funny guys.    You want to hang out and listen and get to know them better.



John Duffy was just beginning to become known to me as a mandolin player, via Jack Tottle's instruction book "Bluegrass Mandolin"  so I had to find a recording and this was it.    On the recording one of band members calls him Eric Clapton of the mandolin and the title fits.   He is not a traditional player, although solidly in the Monroe school, he picks up influences from all forms of music.   His high tenor was one of the best in Bluegrass - and the choice of "It's all over Baby Blue" by Dylan is the perfect blend of modern material in a traditional setting, with a vocal interpretation that Dylan could never achieve.  It's still one of my favorite all time tracks.  



Mike Auldridge really brought the Dobro into the Bluegrass setting - although he'll never match Jerry Douglas for lifetime recordings, he set the standard as to how to use the Dobro in Bluegrass and is in top form on this album.  His tasty intro's and the beautiful backup fills show how the Dobro was meant to be played, not to mention the breaks.



Ben Eldridge has to be the most underrated banjo player in Bluegrass, but stands tall on this album.    He is present, yet not the overbearing, dominating type of player that many Bluegrass banjo players have come to be.   I love the fact that he keeps the part in where he loses a pick during his break on "Hit Parade of Love" and comes back and nails it.   In fact, not many  bluegrass bands were doing songs like that back then - the Seldom Scene were among the pioneers of  the trend.



John  Starling also was also and underrated member of the group, and contributes fine leads and harmony vocals throughout, especially on "The Fields have turned Brown".   A surgeon by day, one wonders how he found time to play with such a hot group but I'm sure glad he did.



Tom Gray was the most well known bluegrass bass players of his day, and shines on this album.   His solo on "Grandfathers Clock" set the standard for bass players, and probably is why that tune has become a jam standard - so the bass player can get his licks in.



What really set them apart was their choice of material - a healthy respect for traditional bluegrass - numbers like Monroe's "Rawhide" (the bluegrass mandolin players "Stairway to Heaven") and "Will the Circle be Unbroken" - with a heavy infusion of modern material - Steve Goodmans "City of New Orleans", "Baby Blue", and maybe the first bluegrass jam song recorded - the Dead's  "I Know You Rider".    This album was perhaps the first and best to bridge the divide and show that good music is good music and can be performed and played in any style.    They blazed the path that many of today's performers - Alison Kraus, Chris Theile, the Grascals, et al.  are now on.   



If you don't have this in your collection get it - even if you are not a fan of Bluegrass!