Story about a legend

[Willie]

For all of you John Duffey fans here is an article written by Dudley Connell about John...www.dcbu.org Hope you enjoy it...Willie

[pathfinder]

Thanks for that, Willie! #I first saw the Seldom Scene in 1981 at Ontario's Carlisle Bluegrass Festival. #I'd liked their sound while I was attending university, and I knew they were on the bill that summer weekend, but my primary reason for hauling it 300 miles was to see Bill Monroe live on stage for the first time. #Boy, did I get more than my money's worth!

Naturally, Bill and the Bluegrass Boys were great, with blue suits, ties, white Stetsons, and a solemn stage presence until they'd get to a chorus and everyone would leap to a vocal mic.

When John, Ben and Mike took the stage, I was a bit sceptical because how could they hope to top Bill Monroe? #And after all, they didn't even have a fiddler!

Well, long story short, they tore that outdoor amphitheatre up (in the middle of the afternoon)! #I thought I'd seen great instrumentalists, but I soon came to realize why they didn't have a fiddler. #They didn't have any room for one!

And Duffey was just hilarious. #He was cracking jokes off the top of his head, doing 'Big Bruce' and teasing the rest of the band without mercy. #I suspect his only rehearsed stunt that afternoon was when he finished up one instrumental number and heaved his mando high over his shoulder behind him. #Fortunately, the bass player (Tom Gray at that time?) caught it, but Duffey never looked behind to see. #He just glared at the audience for about 3 seconds, winked and then broke out laughing. #

What a show! I'll never forget it.

[bill3354]

I love hearing stories about the old days with John. I have a few photos of him with the Scene that I took at the original Birchmere about 1981. I even have some with him sitting in with JD Crowe and The New South. The late Kieth Whitley was his lead singer at the time. I think Mike Auldridge was sitting in on Pedal Steel, also. Wow, I'll have to dig through my box of old pictures and scan them.

[Peter Hackman]

In the late 60's the Country Gentlemen were my model
group in BG.
I loved Monroe because he featured the fiddle,
but the Gents were taking the music into new places, which
suited me as a rootless European, more interested in
music as such, than ritual.

In '69 I finally fulfilled my dream of traveling around
the US from festival to festival, watching all the name acts, to the point of oversaturation.

Only a couple of months before I left I heard about
John's departure from the group! He was replaced by
J Gaudreau from Rhode Island.

After about one month
of traveling I spent a couple of weeks in Washington DC.
One night I went to watch the Gentlemen, and who was there,
but John Duffey. Gaudreau hade a date with the Army, I
believe.

This was the greatest BG show I watched
in those 2 months in the US. They did Cripple Creek
(imitating a record played at half speed), Mocking Banjo,
Tom Dooley and (as I recall) Ain't Got No Home,
truly great show numbers. Duffey was absolutely
wild on stage. One of his favorite stunts
was to play a fast and fierce solo on the mandolin then
finish it off by just
dropping it, leaving it hanging from its sling.


Duffey, like the rest of the CG, had a day job; he was a repairman
working for a music store at Lee Heights in Arlington,
Virginia. He did a truly great job on my mandolin
(a blonde Levin Aristokrat) which was coming apart
at the dovetail, setting back the neck a bit in
the process. It was a good instrument to begin with
(possibly the best Aristrokrat ever) but it gained
a bit of power after this.

[Scotti Adams]

..thanks Willie..and Dudley..that was thorougly enjoyable....I too played that mando of his..it was like playing a fence post...but it sure did have that recognizable tone. I played it at the Birchmere one night back in the mid eighties....

[Christopher Howard-Williams]

Thanks for that Willie.
I was lucky enough to get to see Seldom Scene when they came to the Toulouse Bluegrass Festival in France in about 82 (with Phil Rosenthal on guitar and lead vocals). I think it was the only time John was persuaded to get on a plane and travel over the ocean!

[Willie]

Xtopher...You are right, that was their demise, Duffey didn`t want o fly anywhere so he and the Gentlemen decided to part ways but they were all still friends to the day he died...I once took a mandolin to Duffey to have some work done on it and after he played it for about 20 minutes he told me the only thing wrong with the mando was the person playing it, he told it like it was for sure....I would always get to the bowling alley early on Mondays where we both bowled to sit and talk bluegrass with him....He was a different person off of the stage....Scotti, you are right the mando he played was a hard one to fret and it did have a certain sound like no other mandolin, Akira has it now from what I hear.....~ til later....Willie

[jlb]

Confirmed that Akira still has "the Duck", at least he did about a year ago, cause I saw him playing it at a show.

[Scotti Adams]

..I faintly remember the Scene flying into the Festival of the Bluegrass in Lexington Ky in a helicopter....this was in the mid 80's

[BenE]

They had a John Duffey tribute after his death at the Birchmere. #One of the stories they told about John was how he would eat breakfast. #I'll try and tell it as best I remember:
First off they said John WAS NOT a morning person. #They talked about being out on tour and everyone would be in the restaurant having breakfast. #John would come in and slump down in his chair with his head in his hands...order a cup of coffee and smoke a couple of cigarettes. #Then he would go into this ritual of ordering and eating breakfast. #He would order a huge plate of scrambled eggs, two orders of bacon, and toast. #When he got the meal he would start tearing off the fat from the bacon and put the fat in one pile and the lean bacon in another. #He would put huge lumps of butter on his toast and let it melt. #Then he would put the bacon fat on his toast and give away all the lean bacon to one of the guys in the band and eat the bacon-fat/butter toast! #Then they said he would salt his eggs until you could actually see the salt covering the plate of eggs!
About two or three times a year he would want a "Healthy Breakfast" and would order a bowl of oatmeal. #When he got his oatmeal he would put in huge lumps of butter and then cover the top with sugar! #He would eat pretty much all the sugar off the top and then cover it again in sugar....repeating this until he had finished the bowl of oatmeal and probably emptying the sugar shaker in the process!

After that.....they said he was pretty chipper and ready to start the day!

Gotta love a guy that enjoys his breakfast!

[Scotti Adams]

..yep...truly the breakfast of a champion...

[Moose]

Hey BenE... ; thanks for sharing that story!!! - Someone asked Sonny Osbourne about John after JD's death ; Sonny replied to the effect of..."...John would still be with us today if he hada' followed his doctor's orders and stopped puttin' poison in his system." - RIP John!!!. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Willie]

Hey folks...Thanks for adding and sharing those stories, it made the post more interesting...I guess there is a million stories out there about John and I could tell some myself but this is a family type forum....JLB, John made two of the "ducks" one for himself and one for Akira, don`t know if Akira has both of them or not, I heard he had Johns F-12 and was wondering if he still has it?...Thanks again folks...`til later...Willie:D