Ben Eldridge (August 15, 1938 – April 14, 2024) was an American five-string banjo player and a founding member of the seminal bluegrass group The Seldom Scene. He fell in love with hillbilly music as a child listening to the Old Dominion Barn Dance on the radio. The show was broadcast from the Lyric Theater in downtown Richmond. Ben's mother Polly would take him to the concerts and he got to know many of the top acts in country music hanging out in the green room between shows.[1]