Remains to Be Scene

Not every bluegrass album starts with a cover of Ray Davies’ ‘Last of the Steam-Powered Trains’. But that’s part of the charm running through Remains to Be Scene, the latest album by The Seldom Scene, who have been playing bluegrass music since 1971. While imagining ‘Last of the Steam-Powered Trains’ as a rock song destined to be a bluegrass standard isn’t too difficult, other tracks on Remains to Be Scene, such as Bob Dylan’s ‘Farewell, Angelina’ or ‘Walkin’ Down the Line’ (here as ‘Walking Down the Line’) are not as easily re-imagined until you hear The Seldom Scene interpret them. Dudley Connell’s pitch-perfect vocals on Jim Croce’s ‘A Good Time Man Like Me Ain’t Got No Business (Singin’ the Blues)’ provides another perfect example. As for non-covers, Willie Bennett’s classic highway song, ‘White Line,’ gets a lovely treatment. Not many bands stick around for half a century. Thank the gods that The Seldom Scene are one of them.