John Starling, Surgeon Turned Seldom Scene Member, Has Died
They were seldom scene, but they were wildly influential. And that’s how five men who accidentally formed a bluegrass band went onto help form the sect of bluegrass music known as Newgrass, and now another one of the founding members is picking and grinning on that back porch in the sky.
John Starling didn’t set out to be a world-renown bluegrass musician, though growing up in Durham, North Carolina and learning how to play bluegrass guitar, it can’t be too surprising that’s where life took him. But his primary passion was as a physician and surgeon. Happenstance is what led him to becoming a legend in bluegrass circles, and eventually to being enshrined in the Bluegrass Hall of Fame.
After medical school, Starling joined the military and deployed to Vietnam as a field surgeon. Upon returning he pursued his residency at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland where he met a banjo-playing mathematician named Ben Eldridge, and a graphic artist named Mike Auldridge, and they began jamming in Ben Eldridge’s basement just for fun. Together with former Country Gentlemen members John Duffey and Tom Gray, Seldom Scene was eventually forged, owing the name to another former Country Gentleman, Charlie Waller, who saw the prospects of the band as frail at best.
But it was the local nature of Seldom Scene that helped make them so cool throughout the bluegrass world, and made Washington D.C. an unexpected haven for bluegrass music. While all working regular jobs, Seldom Scene started playing professionally at a small club called the Rabbit’s Foot in D.C. before beginning their legendary residency every Friday night at the Red Fox Inn in Bethesda. They held court at the Red Fox from January 1972 through September 1977, later moving to The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia for regular shows. Emmylou Harris, who started forging her own career while living in the Washington D.C. area, was one of many big names who helped spread the word about the band.
As the frontman and guitar player of Seldom Scene, John Starling released seven albums with the band on Rebel Records before deciding to leave to focus more on medicine in 1977. Starling worked as an otolaryngologist, or Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist. Even after he left the band, Starling still participated in the bluegrass scene, briefly rejoining the outfit when his replacement Lou Reid left when they were signed with Sugar Hill Records. Starling also released a couple of solo albums in the early 80’s on Sugar Hill while Seldom Scene went on to become one of the most popular and well-recognized bands in the Newgrass movement. Starling also played guitar and worked as a musical consultant on 1987’s Trio album combining the talents of Emmylou, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt, and sang backup harmonies for Ronstadt on her 1995 record Feels Like Home.
While still working as a doctor, John Starling won a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album for Spring Training with Carl Jackson in 1992. After retiring from practicing medicine in 2006, Starling formed the Newgrass band John Starling and Carolina Star. In 2014, the original lineup of Seldom Scene, including John Starling, was inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. Seldom Scene continues to regularly record and tour today.
John Lewis Starling was born on March 26, 1940. His son Jay Starling is also a musician, as is his former wife, Fayssoux McLean. It was reported in mid February that John Starling was very ill, and had been moved to hospice care. He died of congestive heart failure on Thursday, May 2, 2019 at his Fredericksburg, Virginia home. He was 79-years-old.
“It is with a broken heart that we announce the passing of our beloved co-founder, John Starling,” Seldom Scene said in a statement. “John was an incredible musician, doctor, friend and mentor, and he will be missed more than words can describe.”
May 4, 2019 @ 1:19 pm
The Seldom Scene was one my earliest introductions to bluegrass music and one of the bands that I continually go back to for inspiration.
May 5, 2019 @ 9:26 am
His son Jay Starling is also a musician
May 4, 2019 @ 5:59 pm
My dad Alvin Breeden used to pick some with Dr. Starling when he was a student at UVA. Sorry to hear this sad news.
May 4, 2019 @ 6:28 pm
While not a fan of bluegrass back in the day (I am a huge fan now and have been for the last 20 years), the SS was the first bluegrass band that I loved. That love continues today. They were pioneers in many ways.
May 4, 2019 @ 6:33 pm
The Seldom Scene was a band I head at my grandfather’s house growing up. His band played some of there songs at festivals.
May 4, 2019 @ 8:29 pm
Living in the DC area, the Seldom Scene has been around forever. It is a great story how these guys from other lines of work got together because of the love of bluegrass and formed such an influential group
May 4, 2019 @ 10:03 pm
Grew up with Act 3 and still think its such a great album. It has a bit more of an alternative vibe than most bluegrass albums, they were well accepted in the hippy circles than most straight bluegrass. Especially songs like ‘dont bother with white satin’.
I love bands that bridge social divides
May 4, 2019 @ 11:14 pm
His early 1980s solo records for Sugar Hill (“Long Time Gone” and “Waitin’ On A Southern Train”) are both wonderful, and I’d urge fans of SCM who haven’t heard them to please give a listen. According to legendary country music writer John Morthland in his indispensable book Best of Country Music, “Long Time Gone” was originally recorded for and then rejected by Capitol Records before being issued by Sugar Hill — a fact that somehow always struck me as so fitting for such a great album. It is one of my favorite records in any genre, with the definitive version of the haunting “He Rode All The Way to Texas”. RIP and thank you John.
May 5, 2019 @ 4:39 am
I grew up on the shore side little town just off 301 some of my best es friends and I played bluegrass had a cousin that loved seldom scene we use to call him duffy cause he could do the part I as well have lost one of the pieses of the band as so the journey stops but the brand will be there forever the seldom scene
May 5, 2019 @ 8:16 am
I grew up listening to ‘Baptizing’ (turns out I managed to memorize most of it). Sad to hear this news.
May 5, 2019 @ 8:30 am
I became an enthusiastic bluegrass fan shortly after moving to the DC area in the early 90’s. And really, it was the first type of non-rock influenced country music that I became very passionate about. It was because of a radio program called Bluegrass Country on WAMU that was on during afternoon drive time and that I would listen to regularly. The regular DJs were Ray Davis and Jerry Gray, but sometimes would Eddie Stubbs fill in (he had a regular classic country program on the weekend and was also the fiddle player in great local bluegrass band The Johnson Mountain Boys). Some of the first few bluegrass or bluegrass friendly albums that I would have bought were Norman Blake and Tony Rice 2, The Essential Doc Watson and Late As Usual by Sam Bush. The Seldom Scene were regularly played, of course, and I did pick up their 15th year anniversary live album recorded at The Kennedy Center. But it wasn’t until the double live album Scene 20, recorded at the old Birchmere in November 1991 and released in 1992, that I really got into them. It was a 20 year anniversary celebration and featured all members, past and present. It really is all great, but the first CD features the original lineup, with John Starling on lead vocal and guitar. And that’s when I became a John Starling fan. There’s a lovely moment on the album when surprise guest Emmylou Harris comes out to do Satan’s Jeweled Crown. Among other things, she talks about how important John Starling was to her country music education and that he was the one who introduced her to that song and taught her how to play it.
I did see John Starling front the Seldom Scene a couple of times in the early 90s at The Birchmere. The first time was a double billing of the Seldom Scene (with him on vocal and Tony Rice on lead guitar) and Doc Watson (with Jack Lawrence on second guitar and member T. Michael Coleman on bass). The second was a New Year’s Eve show featuring the Scene and The Tony Rice Unit. Man, were these great shows. And it was at these shows that I heard songs from his solo work like He Rode All The Way to Texas (with John Duffy on tenor vocal!) and Carolina Star. I picked up his Long Time Gone album (Allmusic says it was released in 1977) and let me tell you, that album is so precious to me. One of my favorite albums of all time. And the list of contributors on that is something else (e.g., Emmylou Harry, Lowell George, Bill Payne, Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, Sam Bush, John Cowan, Herb Peterson, Buddy Emmons, and all members of The Seldom Scene). His version of The Last Thing I Needed from the album was my introduction to the song and remains the definitive version for me personally. Listened to the album today with my morning coffee. Great as ever.
Rest in peace, Dr. Starling. And thank you for the music.
May 5, 2019 @ 9:00 pm
Thanks for the story. I’ve always thought there would be no WAMU without Seldom Scene.
February 18, 2022 @ 8:00 pm
Almost an exact story of how I came across Bluegrass.
May 5, 2019 @ 9:10 am
“I know you rider…gonna miss me when I’m gone.”
Great guy, great band. I can’t top what Trig and Jack said, so nuff said here.
May 6, 2019 @ 8:03 am
As a long time fan of the Seldom Scene, and lifelong resident of Maryland, I’ve attended many of their local shows from Georgetown to Gettysburg to Germantown (MD) and witnessed the many personnel changes within the band. I first learned of the band through a now-defunct local music rag, the Unicorn Times, and from WAMU-FM (American University radio station). The WASHDC metro area has always been a hot bed for bluegrass music, and the Scene was (and still is) one of the top contributors drawing large audiences to their live appearances. (As a matter of fact, I’ve got tickets to their show in Germantown this Saturday.) The band has always been on the cutting edge of bluegrass with a wide ranging repertoire of songs.
John Starling was a key component of the band as a co-lead singer and songwriter. He, along with John Duffey (who passed away in 1996), established the musical direction of the band that has continued to this day. Although he has not been a member of the band for a long while, he is greatly mourned by many fans here in WASHDC. May God bless John Starling!
May 9, 2019 @ 7:55 pm
John Duffy and Tom Gray did not come from the bluegrass gentleman, but rather the country gentlemen.
October 17, 2019 @ 7:50 am
I was introduced to Seldom Scene around 1974 when I joined a Gospel bluegrass band, Gabriel, started by Mike & Murray Clark while at LSU. We still do Other Side of Life and other Scene tunes we learned back then. Last Thing I Needed became my theme song when my wife moved out 4 years ago. I have every LP they have done and have them on CD also. I got to see them 3 times on Washington visits but never with Starling as a member. Loved his voice and how powerful the emotions were in each song. SS is still the ultimate bluegrass band for me.
July 4, 2022 @ 5:10 am
John Starling’s Homestead In My Heart might be among the five best songs I’ve heard .g