Blue Ridge is the sixth studio album (eighth total album) released by the singer/songwriter Jonathan Edwards. It features the Bluegrass band, The Seldom Scene.
The Seldom Scene formed out of the weekly jam sessions in the basement of banjo player Ben Eldridge. These sessions included John Starling on guitar and lead vocals, Mike Auldridge on Dobro and baritone vocals, and former Country Gentlemen member Tom Gray on bass. Then mandolinist John Duffey, who had also performed with the Country Gentlemen, was invited to the jam sessions at the time when Auldridge arranged for the group to play as a performing band. Another member of the Country Gentlemen, Charlie Waller, is responsible for the band’s name. Expressing his doubt that this new band could succeed, Waller reportedly asked Duffey, “What are you going to call yourselves, the seldom seen?
Each of the band members had a job during the week; Duffey repaired musical instruments, Eldridge was a mathematician, Starling a physician, Auldridge a graphic artist, and Gray a cartographer with National Geographic. They agreed to play one night a week at local clubs, perform occasionally at concerts and festivals on weekends, and make records. After playing for six weeks at a small Washington, D.C., club called the Rabbit’s Foot, the group found a home at the Red Fox Inn in Bethesda, Maryland. They performed at that venue Friday nights from January 1972 through September 1977 before starting weekly performances at The Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria, Virginia
Track Listing
"Don't This Road Look Rough and Rocky" (Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs) - 3:37
"How Long Have I Been Waiting for You" (Edwards) - 1:57
"Blue Ridge" (Bob Artis, Rick Mallis) - 3:31
"Seven Daffodils" (Lee Hays, Fran Moseley) - 3:42
"Sunshine" (Edwards) - 2:57
"Back to Where I Don't Belong" (Phil Rosenthal) - 2:40
"If I Gave You" (Gray, Gray, Martin) - 2:36
"Honey, I Won't Be Around" (Phil Rosenthal) - 2:53
"Only a Hobo" (Bob Dylan) - 3:22
"God Gave You to Me" (Ralph Stanley) - 2:47
"Little Hands" (Edwards) - 3:08
"I Don't Believe I'll Stay Here Anymore" (Al Anderson) - 3:26