Last fall, I played in my first festival, the Tenn. Valley Old Time Fiddler's Convention, which was once a big deal. Solley Burton won and Bobby Nobley came in second. I was far behind, mainly because of nerves. My tune was Methodist Preacher, a hybrid of the one that Tater posted here with a few changes that I found in different versions.
The year before, I was in the stands video taping the performers for reference and someone asked if I planned to play the next year. Her advice to me "Just play Whiskey Before Breakfast. Everybody loves that tune." No they don't. It is one that I have a hard time making myself play for that reason; it has become something of a cliche (at least to me). I played a bunch of stuff last night and decided that I am going to commit to memory the songs that I like to play and that's it. My first cut, working alphabetically is Arkansas Traveller Beaumont Rag Billy In The Lowground Black Mountain Rag Blackberry Blossom (there are some interesting things to do here, I think) Cripple Creek Cumberland Gap (OT-forgive me, but I like the way Ricky Skaggs plays it on BG Mandolin) Fisher's Hornpipe Green Willis Liberty Old Joe Clark Ragtime Annie Red Haired Boy (sorry, I like it) Red Wing Saint Anne's Reel Sally Ann Sally Goodin' Soldier's Joy Tennessee Waltz (grandpa's favorite) Texas Gales Tom and Jerry Plus some Monroe tunes that I should know like Pike County Breakdown, Roanoke, etc. and a few Celtic numbers. On Feb 4, 7:20 am, Dasspunk <[email protected]> wrote: > There are two tunes that I refuse to play any more. Blackberry Blossom > and Whiskey Before Breakfast. These tunes are butchered daily at jams > everywhere and make my skin crawl. I don't mind when folks play > them... it's fine beer break music. > > But if the point of having a repertoire is to know songs that you can > play with others, then those two are probably at the top of the > list. > > Eek! I just looked at that list on mandozine... sure enough, those are > some of the most popular tunes I've ever heard at jams. And of course > my two *favorites* are on there. Whatever... learn 'em all and decide > for yourself which ones you like. > > I'm currently learning a couple tunes for a dance I'll be playing this > weekend with Mr. Lynn Chirps Smith. I absolutely love Snake River Reel > and his tune Mississippi Palisades. Also on tap are Cumberland Gap (OT > version), Little Dutch Girl (which Sadie Compton does a nice version > of) and Squirrel Heads And Gravy (which I'm finding difficult to > transfer to mandolin). > > Brian > > On Feb 3, 1:16 pm, mistertaterbug <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Nelson, > > It seems to me that the list varies depending on where a person hangs > > his hat (which includes geographical location, chosen era of > > 'bluegrass', and age group). Dennis comments in jest. I told him once > > that if I had to listen to "Red Haired Boy" once more time I was going > > to go out and kill something. There are a few more on *that* list as > > well. I will say though, without looking at anyone else's list, that > > some of the more common oldtime fiddle tunes seem to hold up across > > the board, plus there are a few Monroe tunes that seem to carry over. > > I don't think I have a really good grasp of what might be an up-to- > > date list of popular 'bluegrass' tunes because I engage so heavily in > > eclecticism. > > > Bugs > > > On Feb 3, 1:04 pm, J Hill <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Nelson, > > > > Mandozine lists what they consider to be essential mandolin tunes to > > > learn. > > > Here's the link:http://www.mandozine.com/music/essential/ > > > > Jason- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
