The Seldom Scene were established in 1971, and they would practice in Ben Eldridge's basement. These practice 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. The mandolinist John Duffey, who had also performed with the Country Gentlemen, was invited to jam sessions at the time when Mike 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?" The band had weekly performances at clubs and performed regularly at the Red Fox Inn, a music club in Bethesda, Maryland. The band switched over to the Birchmere music hall in Alexandria, Virginia, which resulted in a residency.
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.
The progressive bluegrass style played by the Seldom Scene had become increasingly popular during the 1970s, especially Duffey's high tenor and the vocal blend of Duffey/Starling/Auldridge. Their weekly shows included bluegrass versions of country music, rock, and even classical pop. The band's popularity soon forced them to play more than once a week — but they continued to maintain their image as being seldom seen, and on several of their early album covers were photographed with the stage lights on only their feet, or with their backs to the camera. Though the Scene remained a non-touring band, they were prolific recorders, producing seven albums in their first five years of existence, including one live album (among the first live bluegrass albums).
In 1977, John Starling left the group to focus on his medical career, and was replaced by singer and songwriter Phil Rosenthal, whose song "Muddy Water" had been recorded by the Scene on two earlier albums. Starling and Rosenthal shared their lead vocals on the group's sixth studio album, Baptizing (recorded in 1978). Around the same time, the group switched record labels from Rebel to Sugar Hill. Starling recorded a solo album for Sugar Hill in 1980 called "Long Time Gone" and another in 1982 called "Waitin' On a Southern Train", on both of which Mike Auldridge played.
The lineup of Rosenthal-Duffey-Gray-Auldridge-Eldridge recorded five albums of a comparable popularity to the ones with the founding members, including John Starling. Rosenthal proved to be as good lead singer as Starling and his baritone voice contrasted well with Duffey's high tenor extravaganzas. He also wrote typically two to three songs on each of the albums and also added acoustic guitar solos to the group. From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seldom_Scene
