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Celebrating 'The Scene'
| Article
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16110 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
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6 / 1989 |
2,005 Words |
| Author
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Christopher Manion
Christopher Manion, a writer whose work appears in several
national publications, teaches at Boston University. |
Washington, D.C.--our nation's capital, and so much more--presents an entertaining paradox to the musical world. On the one hand, its cultural focus is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where various forms of high culture are presented to rather elite audiences. On the other hand, quite apart from the world of politics and international affairs, the Washington area boasts more performing bluegrass musicians than any other city in the country.
In November 1986, bluegrass and the big time came together when Washington's premier stage featured the world's best bluegrass group for a birthday party. The Seldom Scene's fifteenth anniversary celebration packed the Kennedy Center Concert Hall and brought down the house with a rollicking performance topped off with surprise appearances by the likes of Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, and Ricky Skaggs. From the first note that night it was clear that something special was going on. The evening was recorded and presented very handsomely by North Carolina's Sugar Hill Records; it surpasses all expectations. This is the collection bluegrass fanciers have been waiting for.
The 15th Anniversary Celebration album marks the coming of age of bluegrass music, which has been off the beaten path of American musical interests since its birth fifty years ago. Bluegrass has always manifested something authentic, eminently American, in its reliance on acoustic (unamplified) instruments played true to the soil and the traditions that bore them. But it has never broken into the big time for long, until now. This year the Grammys added a major category for bluegrass; this album was nominated, along with one by Bill Monroe, known as the father of bluegrass, which naturally enough won the
... (1994 of 12346 Characters)
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