Act Two, released on Rebel in 1973, was the second album from the Seldom Scene, the Washington, D.C. band that had formed only two years earlier and was already reshaping what bluegrass repertoire could include. The founding lineup — John Duffey's mandolin and soaring tenor, Mike Auldridge's dobro, John Starling's lead vocals and guitar, Tom Gray's bass, and Ben Eldridge's banjo — brought conservatory-grade musicianship and a deliberate openness to material from outside the tradition. Working players who kept day jobs and held a standing weeknight gig, they treated the music as a labor of love, and that ease shows in the relaxed authority of these performances. Act Two helped set the template for progressive bluegrass: traditional instrumentation and high-lonesome harmony applied to a far wider songbook, drawing urban folk audiences toward a music many had thought of as strictly rural.
Tracklist
- 1 Last Train From Poor Valley alt version 3:41
- 2 Gardens & Memories 2:42
- 3 Paradise alt version 2:21
- 4 Small Exception Of Me 3:00
- 5 Train Leaves Here This Morning 3:03
- 6 Keep Me From Blowin' Away 2:42
- 7 Hello Mary Lou 2:19
- 8 Lara's Theme 1:20
- 9 I've Lost You 2:37
- 10 Sweetest Gift 2:37
- 11 Reason For Being 3:20
- 12 Smokin' Hickory 2:21
- 13 House of Gold alt version 3:14