Playlist

Had a longish drive on Monday, and spent part of it pondering what my playlist would be if all other options fall through and my best bet in this economy would be to take the banjo and the tin cup out to a street corner somewhere.

I started thinking through the pieces I can play pretty well. Stephen Foster's "Hard Times"? Stan Rogers' "The Mary Ellen Carter"? I am not sure you want to remind passing folks that times are hard or their ship has sunk when you are trying to pull money out of their pockets. Woody Guthrie's "Union Maid", or "Red Wing" if it's just an instrumental? I am surprised at the number of people who claim to know the dirty lyrics that go with that tune, and that leads me to think that you have to be careful about the thought process you set off in your audience.

A streetcorner musician who hopes to avoid being pelted with rotten fruit by the grocer on the corner is going to need a larger playlist than I have right now. I saw in The Banjo Newsletter once a list of the 100 tunes any banjo player needs to know if he is planning to play with or in front of others. Guess that would be the place to start.

When I have 90 of them down pat, I will go find the tin cup.