Ozark Highlands Radio is a weekly radio program that features live music and interviews recorded at Ozark Folk Center State Park’s beautiful 1,000-seat auditorium in Mountain View, Arkansas. In addition to the music, our “Feature Host” segments take listeners through the Ozark hills with historians, authors, and personalities who explore the people, stories, and history of the Ozark region.

This week, legendary Grammy nominated Bethesda, Maryland progressive bluegrass super-group The Seldom Scene recorded live at the Ozark Folk Center State Park in Mountain View, Arkansas. Also, interviews with this enduring and enigmatic group of bluegrass pioneers.

“The Seldom Scene is an American bluegrass band formed in 1971 in Bethesda, Maryland. The Scene has been instrumental in starting the progressive bluegrass movement as their shows include bluegrass versions of country music, rock, and even pop. What does it take for a bluegrass band to remain popular for more than four decades? For The Seldom Scene, it's taken not only talented musicians, a signature sound, and a solid repertoire, but also a sheer sense of fun.” - https://www.seldomscene.com/band/

For almost fifty years, The Seldom Scene has been a staple of the American bluegrass landscape. Their innovative approach to this traditional genre has brought bluegrass music to an ever widening audience. While paying homage to the genre with traditional instrumentation & harmony singing, The Seldom Scene cleverly apply a fresh coat of bluegrass bent to seemingly any kind of song they choose. Along with traditional bluegrass songs, rock, country, pop, and even classical music are reimagined into fresh masterpieces.

Although the lineup of The Seldom Scene has changed slightly over the decades, the sound and spirit of the group has endured. Today, they are Dudley Connell on guitar, Lou Reid manning mandolin & guitar, Ron Stewart taking on banjo & fiddle, Fred Travers on dobro, and Ronnie Simpkins holding up the bottom end on bass.

In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, musician, educator, and country music legacy Mark Jones offers a 1983 archival recording of Ozark original Bob Atchison performing the traditional fiddle tune “Bull at the Wagon,” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives.

Writer, musician, and traditional dancer Aubrey Atwater presents “Ballads That End Well,” proving that folk ballads don’t always end with a grizzly horrifying death.