Essential Listening Chapter Two
Compiled by Richard Burkett.

In lieu of not having SDBS jams, last month the Tune Up started a list of "essential listening" bluegrass tunes curated by SDBS board member and outstanding musician Richard Burkett. When you listen you will be enjoying the recommendations of your SDBS Board members. And, those inclined can learn a few tunes in the process to add to their jam session repertoire.
 
Here is Chapter two of our "Essential Listening":

John Deckard picks:
Richard reports he first met John at a bluegrass club jam over 30 years ago and John is almost always at the jams calling out songs. Here are some of John's favorites that you might want to know:

I Wonder How the Old Folks Are at Home – Mack Wiseman – You Tube

I Wonder Where You Are Tonight – Here’s a version by Mac, Doc & Del:

Scarlet Purple Robe – Stanley Bros

And just because we only have four board members this month, John offers two more of his favorites:

Stormy Horizons – Jim & Jesse

Matthew 24 – Jim & Jesse
 
Dwight Worden
These are my suggestions for three tunes folks can learn and use to fit in to a bluegrass jam session.

Angelina Baker – It's simple, everybody knows it, and it's good to have an instrumental ready to go when one doesn't want to sing. Here's a great version by Stuart Duncan playing with the Foggy Mountain Boys:  

I'm on My Way Back to the Old Home – classic vocal by Bill Monroe. Here it is by Bill Monroe:  https://youtu.be/ojtnkagtPxc

Will the Circle Be Unbroken – a well known classic, easy to play and sing. Here it is:  https://youtu.be/5eq1m2s3rzE
 
 Mark Pullin
Here are my suggestions, three bluegrass classics:

I Saw the Light – Earl Scruggs and guests: https://youtu.be/Ts1N2snAHZY

Wildwood Flower – Flatt & Scruggs: https://youtu.be/1h694u5gNyE

Your Love is Like a Flower – The Bluegrass Album Band, an all-star group with Tony Rice, J.D. Crowe, Doyle Lawson, and more: https://youtu.be/CuXW-w3808w
 
Richard Burkett
Here are three instrumental tunes that often get played in jams:

Clinch Mountain Backstep – Ralph Stanley made this one famous:

Ragtime Annie – another classic fiddle tune that’s fairly easy on mandolin or guitar, too. Here’s a classic Texas fiddle version by Johnny Gimble:

Red-Haired Boy – an Irish tune sometimes known as Little Beggarman. It’s played here by Tony Rice and Sam Bush, with Jerry Douglas and Mark O’Connor – nice and clean. You can’t get better than this:

And I thought that after listing three fiddle tunes, I needed to add a vocal:
Bury Me Beneath the Willow – sad and mournful, but a beautiful melody and easy to play. Alison Krauss, Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, and Vince Gill! Holy moly, what an all-star the cast: