I have been trying to find music that means something to my audience today. That is, a different audience than I have known in the decades gone by.
Have you changed the content of your show lately?
How do you choose what to play?
Things that I have been doing lately:
Asking the staff and management at the places where I play for ideas.
Listening to music has been written lately. For me, that's anything written in this century.
Learning some of this new material, performing it and then talking to the audience (usually one-on-one) about it.
Wondering if it is better to be age appropriate and to stick to the music from my era, or press ahead at the risk of being the old guy playing Hey there Delilah, Whistle For The Choir, 1234, Gravity. Oh - but I do so love it when people sing along to tunes like this.
Thinking about putting together another band to do ...?
What about you? How do you decide what to play? If you are incorporating contemporary music in your show, how are you doing that? Where do find that music?
Thanks for any input here.
Background A lot has changed for me since the beginning of the year. I got a steady gig playing solo and have recently been having people sit in with me as accompanists.
This means that I get to pick the songs, set the arrangements, and give other folks the nod when it's their time to solo.
For most of my musical life, I've been a side-man and occasional on-stage musical director. Taking centre stage and having others to support me is really different.
From the side, I always played whatever the headliner or the band wanted to play with respect to the music and the arrangements. I might have some input but ultimately I ceded most of the decisions to someone else. That's all changed now and it gives me the ability and responsibility to choose the music.
In the beginning I went back through all the tunes I have played on a regular basis and
Learned the lyrics (no small feat)
Did arrangements to do them solo, indulging myself in being able to do them as I had always wanted to, except for the inherent limitations of playing solo
Hit a little culture shock when I realized that almost everything in the list was at least 25 years old.
The L1® connection here? I KNOW that I would not be playing solo or headlining if it weren't for the lessons I've learned and the changes I've made in the last four years. Most of these were because with the L1® I can actually hear myself. But just being here in the message board has had a huge impact on the way I think about and experience music.
So back to you.
What about you? How do you decide what to play? If you are incorporating contemporary music in your show, how are you doing that? Where do you find that music.
ST - wonderful question, discussion & starting point!
I still play the same old stuff, I bet most OLDER than 25 years. Except for the “new” Eagles song, which was actually written 17 years ago, or in the 70’s, I can’t remember. That strikes me funny for some reason.
A year or so ago I bought some new CD’s, trying to find a contemporary song or few, same intent as you now. I bought Mayer, Coldplay, couple of others I don’t recall right now. I don’t guess I found anything that struck me. I’m on a Coldplay internet list, for some reason.
If I WAS to really learn something new, from what I hear, it would be easier to find a country song than rock. I fear I am an old fogie with regard to new rock(?) or alternative or whatever it is.
In our band, it seems our performances are most often pretty limited in terms of TIME to play, and we have so many very good songs already, I have great trouble deciding what to drop, for any new ones to add. We recently added That Thing You Do by “The Wonders” - movie song, and Lies by the Knickerbockers. Those are basically Beatle songs anyway…
So, once every 3rd or 4th gig I get one request for Dave Matthews or somebody like that, obviously from a 20-something. I feel bad having to say “No”. I SHOULD learn at least some snippets from these newer artists - that would be better than my usual “Do I LOOK like I know any Dave Matthews?” - trying for the lighter response, but I may be being too smart-castic. At least I didn’t say smart-asterisk…
If I could find new songs, that I like, that I feel I could do justice to as well as bring in a little of myself, I would. I wonder if a new song fitting that criteria would be a lot “like” the great older songs, which I already like and already know?
Thanks for bringing this up - I will watch with interest.
Interestingly, I have recently stumbled onto an application called Pandora. For those not familiar with it, I’ll try to explain briefly. It’s an Internet program that lets you enter your favorite artists and/or style of music and then through the power of artificial intelligence of some kind and Internet searching facilities, it searches out other artists and songs which have similar characteristics and plays that music for you. I have found several artists and songs I had never heard of before via Pandora and continue to find interesting songs and artists. It’s just fascinating! This is really one of the first times I feel I have tapped the real power of the Internet and the resources available for information retrieval. This is an amazing application for musical exploration, in my opinion.
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Have you changed the content of your show lately?
No, we really haven’t changed much in the last decade or so. I doubt we will any time soon, either. Our music repertoire is composed of songs from the turn of the 20th century to today, which are in the acoustic folk arena, bluegrass, and old-tyme music genres. But, I find myself listening today to much more new-age Bluegrass (if that’s a genre) and strictly acoustic type music performed on mandolin, banjo, fiddle or guitar. Stuff like; Russ Barenberg, Matt Flinner, or David Grier. These artists play a more contemporary style of music, compared to the Bill Monrore and Flatt & Scruggs style of Bluegrass music. I’d like to play more of this music, but I don’t see us doing it anytime soon.
So there you go….relevance of music in the 21st century for me…. I’ll admit, since being involved with the L1 for the last couple of years, my technical and “listening” skills have expanded immensely. I can not listen to amplified music any longer without critiquing it for balance, quality, sound, etc. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not… sometimes I can’t get past the problems I hear, to enjoy the music of a live performance. Being involved with the L1 has certainly raised my standards for a good musical performance and entertaining evening. Is that relevant?
Great topic...thanks for bringing it up...and like Mike-in-Texas, I'll be watching for others to chime in here.
I’m like the rest of you - I get requests for newer stuff mostly play the old stuff. It’s hard for me to play music that I can’t connect with personally. (I’m trying to be kind here. There’s some decent stuff out there, but I’m too old to “get” most of it.)
I’m pretty up front with my audience. I usually state early in the show that I take requests, but I don’t know anything recent.
As some of you may recall I have been computerizing my song/lyric list. I keep finding songs that I forgot that I knew! Searching the name of most any artist gives you all of their discography. I find myself saying “Oh, I know that one, and that one”. Of course some of these are not worthy of reviving, but it is keeping me pretty busy. I think my audience (especially regulars) are liking it.
Well… I’m in the same boat as the rest of you guys… I tend to play the older songs that I liked when I was younger (60’s thru the early 80’s). However, I do listen for newer songs that I like and lend themselves to the type of solo music that I play (John Mayer comes to mind). I play at a country club here in town [with a crowd about my age… only MUCH wealthier ;-)] and get lots of comments about how much they enjoy the choice of music.
On the other side of the coin, I recently played at a place where some of my friend’s kids came… I was talking to them afterwards and one guy said " Boy, I only recognized one or two of the songs you played tonite." I asked “Which ones?”… turns out the ones he recognized were covered by a couple of the groups getting airplay now…
AS far as requests, I accomodate when I can (that’s where the larger tips seem to come from)… and I also carry 8-10 copies of my playlist (song titles and artists) and if I don’t know the request, I give the person requesting the song a copy of the list so that he/she can take a look and see if there’s something else they might like to hear… works fairly well… helps to jog their memory…
I cringe when I remember this, but at one gig I overheard someone say “Who are the Beatles?”… go figure…
I copied my song list from my official site below (sorry it’s long). I have the ability to remember lyrics. I actually never realized that this was an ‘ability’ until I started playing with other musicians more often and found out that many can’t do this so easily. I play about a hundred more songs than indicated in the list, but for commercial reasons I don’t list them and stick to the meat of my material. I was interviewed recently by a Newport RI newspaper and I told the guy that I was concentrating on learning newer stuff, like Green Day. He said, “Well, they’re not that new anymore”. I laughed. He’s right.
For me, a mostly solo performer who covers songs from bluegrass to rock and pop, it comes down to having to like a song and finding a way to identify with it most of the time. At the same time, I recognize that someone will want to hear American Pie or Sweet Caroline. Not my favorites to perform, but I’ve figured them out enough to get ‘em done.
I write my own material and perform it. Doing the occasional song I don’t like so much keeps me employed and let’s me do my originals and the covers I like. When I do covers, I try to bring an original feel to the song while not reinventing it so much that people might get annoyed. I finally figured out James Taylor’s Country Road after so many years of being too lazy to work out the fingerpicking on it. But at the end, you know where JT starts going, “na na na na na na na…”? I just add my own vocal there by stretching some notes out and going into head voice a bit. What I’m getting at is that I keep the majority of the tune intact but have some fun reworking the melody line a bit.
I can’t sing some songs (like Delilah, ST) if I feel too uncomfortable with the age/experience thing. Someone once asked Johnny Cash how he could learn a modern tune and make it his own and he said something to the effect of, “Well, you just have to do it again and again until you own it”. That’s my approach. Recently, I’ve forged into previously untapped (for me) territory and acquired a Taylor T5 electric. I’m trying to learn some Stray Cats rockabilly stuff and use it for some upbeat numbers where I add some bass and drum tracks (about 80 percent of what I do is solo acoustic, minus the tracks but they do liven up the right venue if need be).
I love talking about this stuff. Can you tell?
SONG LIST
Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan Take it Easy - Eagles Norwegian Wood - Beatles Wild Night - Van Morrison Margaritaville - Jimmy Buffett Sweet Baby James - James Taylor Down on the Corner - Creedence Clearwater Revival Play Me Stairway to Heaven - Wayne Morrison Mr. Bojangles - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Sympathy for the Devil - Rolling Stones Babylon - David Gray Gravity - John Mayer No Woman, No Cry - Bob Marley Rhode Island Blues - Wayne Morrison I Will Follow You into the Dark - Death Cab For Cutie Birthday - Beatles Drift Away - Dobie Gray In the Early Morning Rain - Gordon Lightfoot A Pirate Looks at Forty - Jimmy Buffett Let’s Talk Dirty in Hawaiian - John Prine Beautiful Boy - John Lennon Third Rate Romance - Amazing Rhythm Aces Who’ll Stop the Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival Throw It Back - Wayne Morrison A Boy Named Sue - Johnny Cash I Won’t Back Down - Tom Petty The River - Bruce Springsteen The Weight - The Band I Got a Name - Jim Croce Sitting, Waiting, Wishing - Jack Johnson The Finish Line - Wayne Morrison Angel From Montgomery - John Prine/Bonnie Raitt Long Black Veil - The Band Strawberry Fields Forever - Beatles Soldier of Fortune - Wayne Morrison Son of a Son of a Sailor - Jimmy Buffett Handy Man - James Taylor These Boots are Made for Walking - Nancy Sinatra Father and Son - Cat Stevens The House of the Rising Sun - Traditional Folk That’s Allright Mama - Elvis/Rod Stewart Lodi - Creedence Clearwater Revival Carmelita - Warren Zevon A Whiter Shade of Pale - Procul Harum Desperado - Eagles My My Hey Hey - Neil Young Blackbird - Beatles Deja Vu All Over Again - John Fogerty You Can Be a Star Just Like Me - Wayne Morrison Working Class Hero - John Lennon/Green Day Shake, Rattle and Roll - Bill Haley Mustang Sally - Wilson Pickett It Take a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry - Bob Dylan Rocky Raccoon - Beatles Bad Moon Risin’ - Creedence Clearwater Revival Lay Lady Lay - Bob Dylan El Condor Pasa - Simon and Garfunkel Unhappy Anniversary - Loudon Wainwright III Across the Universe - Beatles La Bamba - Richie Valens Subterranean Homesick Blues - Bob Dylan Why Don’t We Get Drunk - Jimmy Buffett Country Road - James Taylor Angie - Rolling Stones I Believe You Might See This Differently - Wayne Morrison All Along the Watchtower - Bob Dylan Peaceful, Easy Feeling - The Eagles Dancing in the Dark - Bruce Springsteen She Thinks I Still Care - James Taylor/George Jones Wild Horses - Rolling Stones Yellow - Cold Play Cheeseburger in Paradise - Jimmy Buffett You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere - Byrds/Dylan Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash Wake Me Up When September Ends - Green Day Man Smart, Woman Smarter - King Radio Sunday Morning Coming Down - Kris Kristofferson Looking East - Wayne Morrison Memphis - Chuck Berry Get Back - Beatles Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan Sunshine Superman - Donovan Battle of New Orleans - Johnny Horton Runaround Sue - Dion The Wine Song - Wayne Morrison Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd Little Sister - Ry Cooder/Elvis I Fought the Law - Bobby Fuller Four I’ll Never Write a Song for Me and You - Wayne Morrison Domino - Van Morrison Wagon Wheel - Old Crow Medicine Show Fire on the Mountain - Marshall Tucker Band Twist and Shout - Isley Bros./Beatles Keep Your Hands to Yourself - Georgia Satellites Jambalaya - John Fogerty/Hank Williams Lori - Wayne Morrison Hey Good Lookin’ - Hank Williams Help - Beatles The Wedding Song - Paul Stookey Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash Sweet Home Rhode Island - lyrics by W. Morrison (apologies to Lynyrd Skynyrd) I’ve Just Seen a Face - Beatles What’s Left Behind - Wayne Morrison Volcano - Jimmy Buffett Living on Tulsa Time - Eric Clapton Behind Blue Eyes - The Who Sloop John B. - Beach Boys New York’s Not My Home - Jim Croce Ticket to Ride - The Beatles Long Gone Lonesome Blues - Hank Williams/Sheryl Crow Crazy Love - Van Morrison Rain - Beatles Have You Ever Seen Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival Fields of Gold - Sting Jealous Guy - John Lennon You’re a Big Girl Now - Bob Dylan All I Have To Do Is Dream - Everly Brothers I Hear You Knockin’ - Dave Edmunds Cats in the Cradle - Harry Chapin Come Together - Beatles Havana Daydreaming - Jimmy Buffett Out On the Weekend - Neil Young Can You Hear Me Captain - Wayne Morrison Pancho and Lefty - Jerry Jeff Walker/Merle Haggard/Willy Nelson Honky Tonk Women - Rolling Stones Fishin’ Blues - Taj Mahal/Wayne Morrison You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away - Beatles Just Another Town Along the Road - Jackson Browne You Don’t Mess Around With Jim - Jim Croce My Hometown - Bruce Springsteen Season of the Witch - Donovan Kansas City Blues - Muddy Waters Biloxi - Jimmy Buffett Stir It Up - Bob Marley Peggy Sue - Buddy Holly Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley/Rufus Wainwright Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road - Loudon Wainwright III Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond On the Blue Train - Wayne Morrison The Banana Republic - Steve Goodman/Jimmy Buffet Someday Never Comes - Creedence Clearwater Revival Our Country - John Mellencamp Move it on Over - George Thorogood/Hank Williams I Saw Her Standing There - The Beatles The City of New Orleans - Arlo Guthrie Imagine - John Lennon Blue Suede Shoes - Elvis Is She Really Going Out With Him - Joe Jackson Green River - Creedence Clearwater Revival Stuck in the Middle With You - Stealers Wheel Fisherman Blues - The Waterboys Saint James Bar Room - Traditional Blues Steel Rail Blues - Gordon Lightfoot Magnolia - J.J. Cale Simple Kind of Man - Lynyrd Skynyrd Up On Cripple Creek - The Band Squeezebox - The Who Square One - Tom Petty Solitary Man - Neil Diamond Instant Karma - John Lennon Carolina In My Mind - James Taylor Don’t Let Me Down - The Beatles Knocking on Heaven’s Door - Bob Dylan One Man Guy - Loudon Wainwright III American Pie - Don McLean I Walk the Line - Johnny Cash In My Life - The Beatles I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight - Bob Dylan What Light - Wilco I’m Gonna Love You Like There’s no Tomorrow - Peter Rowan Ophelia - The Band Play With Fire - Rolling Stones Truckin’ - The Grateful Dead Losing My Religion - R.E.M. Slip Slidin’ Away - Paul Simon I Will be the One - Wayne Morrison Helplessly Hoping - Crosby, Stills & Nash Broken Down Cowboy - John Fogerty Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes - Jimmy Buffett Good Riddance (I Hope You Had The Time Of Your Life) - Green Day Jailhouse Rock - Elvis The Pilgrim - Kris Kristofferson Roadhouse Blues - The Doors Positively 4th Street - Bob Dylan Why Don’t Ya Love Me - Hank Williams IRISH SONGS The Wild Rover Keep Your Hands Off Red-Haired Mary Sailor’s Prayer The Galway Shawl Wild Mountain Thyme Dirty Old Town Leave Her Johnny You’re Not Irish What Will We Do With a Drunken Sailor Mountain Dew Whiskey in the Jar Blow the Man Down The Town I Loved so Well The Grey Funnel Line Molly Malone The Leaving of Liverpool Danny Boy I’ll Tell Me Ma The Rare Auld Times Bound for South Australia Carrickfergus Haul Boys Haul Green Fields of France Finnegan’s Wake The Holy Ground The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald The Parting Glass By the Rising of the Moon The Irish Rover GUITAR TUNES Pachebel’s Canon in D Ode to Joy Sonata in A The Wedding Chorus Morrison’s Pig The Captain’s Farewell Saint Anne’s Reel Cattle in the Cane The Road to Lisdoonvarna Sailor’s Hornpipe Cookoo’s Nest Staten Island Hornpipe Whiskey Before Breakfast Darcy’s Guitar Red Haired Boy Done Gone Whingding Flop Eared Mule Key to the Kingdom BANJO TUNES Dueling Banjos Dear Old Dixie Banjo Signal Cripple Creek Rueben’s Train Brian Boru’s March Clinch Mountain Backstep John Hardy Fireball Mail Theme Time Jesus Maloney Old Joe Clark Wildwood Flower Nashville Skyline Rag Lonesome Road Blues Foggy Mountain Breakdown
For the holidays, I perform a selection of seasonal tunes.
As for my bluegrass band, Looking East, we have a large catalog of traditional and modern songs and tunes available upon request.
Hello jayare, Yes, songs from the 30’s 40’s and 50’s were being played in the sixties, but by older musician’s than we were. I was 11 when I started playing and singing for nickles and dimes in corner bars in 1962.In these bars there were men in their 50’s playng Hank Williams Sr. and the like on their song list. I was playing songs by the Animals,Kinks and such that that age group couldn’t grasp. I learned quick that in order to please the crowd I had to learn the songs they were acustomed to. During this phase I learned music appreciation and still play some very old stuff I learned then and still like. Some day this 2000 music will be Classic 2000 to a whole new era of kids. The cycle goes on , life is great.
I learn a new song when it really speaks to me or I need to learn it for a wedding or event. Currently I’m doing:
“Heaven” by Los Lonely Boys "Baby Got Back" folk version which is a recent remake by Jonathan Coulton "Rack 'Em Up" by Jonny Lang "Here in the Real World" by Alan Jackson Several new original folk songs by folk writers in my area
There are several more that I can’t find in my last save off the laptop.
I get younger folks coming out to hear me quite often because they want to hear 70’s songs.
Thank you for all the food for thought. The song lists are interesting and fun. Maybe we should start another discussion thread for comparing those. Done. See: Song Lists
I am really interested in the thinking or feeling that goes into deciding what you will play. In lead post, I described a little of the background to this question. After reading the replies so far, I realized that many of the songs in my repertoire are songs that were relevant to the people I accompanied, and the audiences that they wanted to reach. Most of those performers are still reaching out to those same audiences. I mean the same people, the same bump in the demographic. I guess they are all floating on the same raft in the river of time.
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What about you? How do you decide what to play? If you are incorporating contemporary music in your show, how are you doing that? Where do you find that music.
Actually…I like a LOT of different styles,and I like to try my hand at everything…which can be a hassle when someone says…“Well,what kind of music do you play?” —Since I generally make my own backing tracks…which can take anywhere from hours,to weeks…Some of my “decision makers” for incorporating a song (new or old)into my list are: 1–Has it been requested more than once? 2–Will the audience like it? 2–will I be able to pull it off,vocal-wise and/or musically? 3–Am I going to be getting a LOT of mileage out of this tune? 4–Will it work for a lot of different audiences? 5–Will I enjoy playing it (notice this is last!)
PS—The New Kenny Chesney song(Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven) …is gonna work …
Well, pick the songs that speak to you & that you can do in your way. Then read the crowd & see how they are reacting to them. That’s my best advice.
I find new music either on iTunes or sometimes even on Pandora. I subscribe to the World Cafe podcast & etown where I hear new stuff I like sometimes as well.
What about you? How do you decide what to play? If you are incorporating contemporary music in your show, how are you doing that? Where do you find that music.
Well...ST...let me take a stab, but my experience may not be terribly relevant. Our music is mostly original songs that are written about things that our type of audience cares about. I usually write the lyrics first. Then I work on the chord structure and rythm that provides an emotional base that matches those lyrics. I pretty much ignore stylistic constraints, though songs written with a guitar tend to be different than those written with a keyboard, for example.
The melody comes last, and it almost writes itself. I usually work over a song until it sticks and I can really get into it. The more I lose myself in the song, the more the audience gets it. I think that is really the key, no matter what you play.
Music that isn't alive in your mind will never come alive in your fingers and voice. And if it doesn't come alive for you, then how can an audience expect to identify. On the other hand, it has become clear to me that if it resonates with me, then there are certain people who will gravitate to it.
We do some other music that we haven't written (about 20%), and that ranges from some done in the 1600's all the way to the 2000's. The only constant is that it has to come alive in our minds first, then when the audience is exposed to it, they resonate with it. Sometimes they are surprised to find out it was one of those "old" songs that their great grandmother used to sing.
So...I chose music that is real and alive to me, and I trust that this will transfer to the audience. Light your heart on fire and stoke it to a white hot flame. People will come to watch you burn no matter what you sing.
Tom, regarding your comment on writing a song that is ‘alive in your mind’ (I love that phrase, by the way), Paul McCartney said he and Lennon used to throw songs out in the air. If they couldn’t remember the song the next day and pick up the writing process again, they figured it wasn’t worth pursuing at all.
I have a theory that I sometimes subscribe to that people are more interested in you & your style than the actual song you are playing. So sometimes I just pick songs that I can do my thang on & see if the audience responds. They usually do.
Yeah, the response thing is the real key in performing I think. Sometimes I have to abandon a tune I really want to do because it doesn’t connect the way I’d like it to.
Sometimes in live performing, a simple rhythmic lick gets a lot more response than a comples guitar run does. I think the musicians dig the run but the audience wants the groove.
Side note: I’ve posted more in the last couple of days than all summer. I bet you’re in the same boat? When summer cools down the gigs slow down and more time on hands? I can’t remember if I told you at the Bose gathering in MA but I used to live in Aurora back in the ancient seventies.
