Always in Style: Classic Collection
When John Duffey, singer and mandolin player for the esteemed Washington, D.C., bluegrass bandSeldom Scene, died suddenly of a heart attack in 1996, modern bluegrass lost one of its most coruscating and innovative giants. A thrilling tenor singer and dynamic frontman, this suburban Washington son of a professional opera singer is remembered for his delightfully eccentric showmanship and for his expansion of modern bluegrass's repertoire, making the music vital and accessible even to non-Southern urban audiences. This collection captures some vivid highlights from Duffey's four-decade legacy, first with theCountry Gentlemenand then with the Scene, which he led from 1971 until his death. Duffey could easily out-traditionalize the traditionalists when he chose, as he does on the Scene's renditions of chestnuts such as theStanley Brothers' "Let Me Be Your Friend" andBill Monroe's "Rose of Old Kentucky." But he also had a knack for brilliantly transforming unlikely songs such asJ.J. Cale's bluesy "After Midnight,"Woody Guthrie's "Philadelphia Lawyer," and the oldGeorge Jonesballad "Walk Through This World with Me" into dazzling bluegrass showstoppers.--Bob Allen