Part of Playing bluegrass is taking Song requests, and most likely drunk bluegrass fans are not requesting one of my experimental, heartfelt originals.  No matter where you’re playing and at what level there are a select few bluegrass songs that people can’t seem to help themselves from requesting…Rocky Top, Wagon Wheel, I’ll Fly Away, Anything Johnny Cash, etc.  I love music fans and I love making music fans happy, but I don’t like playing cliche requests.  It has the connotation that the music I’m already playing isn’t good enough for you and you’ve decided to take over my set list.  I know this may sound ultra sensitive and I think that’s a result of the fact that requests are made so often, it becomes annoying and off putting.  I’m actually really sorry I feel this way.  I wish I loved to play those standards and I wish I loved to have someone yell at me from the crowd “play Rocky Top, play Rocky Top, play Rocky Top!!!!”  I also wish I loved hearing someone slur out the request that inevitably always goes like this: “Can you play that Civil War song?  I just love that song it is so pretty.  You know what I’m talking about?  That song from that Civil War movie?  I just love that song.”  For the record, the name of that song is Ashoken Farewell.  It was written in 1982 by Jay Ungar and was chosen to be on the soundtrack  for Ken Burns’ PBS Civil War Documentary in 1990.

Anyway, unfortunately, requests are annoying if not slightly insulting.   My next post will be some suggestions for dealing with this issue and a couple other crowd-management issues that gigging musicians are forced to deal with.  Until then, have a very safe and happy St. Patrick’s Day.