Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

[Cryo]

Is Wagon Wheel one of the most common songs played or what?

Here is our Jam group doing our version of this classic - written by Bob Dylan.

http://youtu.be/y9LtZ-yF__g

Even though this is overplayed, the crowd just loved it. We had 50 or so folks behind where we placed the camera dancing and swaying.

Hope you like it. Are there other common songs covered by country/BG bands that appeal to the masses?

This will help us with thinking about evolving our jam group set list. Keep it easy to play please - chords for newbies are a plus!

[Phil Goodson]

'Friend of the Devil' usually goes over pretty well, and is not quite so beaten to death.

[MikeEdgerton]

written by Bob Dylan.

Kind of. I actually recently read an article where Dylan gave credit for his part to somebody else. I think Ketch Secor should get most of the credit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagon_Wheel_%28song%29

[Jon Hall]

Speaking of Bob Dylan songs, there are 4 more of his songs, that our band plays, that get good audience response: "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight", "Buckets of Rain" and "One More Cup of Coffee".

[JeffD]

Wagon Wheel and Old Home Place. They seem to dominate.

[Mike Bunting]

I think Ketch Secor should get most of the credit

Or blame.

[allenhopkins]

Chestnuts:

Rocky Top
Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms
Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Country Roads
Take It Easy

I'd include Foggy Mountain Breakdown, but you'd need a banjo. Or Orange Blossom Special if you had a fiddle.

[journeybear]

\I think Ketch Secor should get most of the credit.

That's my understading, too, though I believe they have a shared credit. Apparently Dylan is just fine with the arrangement, and is surely enjoying the income the song has generated. I've also heard there is a co-write coming on the next album by OCMS. The bass player in my band goes way back with Kevin Hayes, so I think his info is good.

Or blame.

Yah. I like the song, even though I have heard it hashed around so much here. My previous band did a really nice version of it, if I say so myself. After all, the bass player (also in that band) knew it inside and out, and I figured out some good licks and an interesting arrangement. But yeah, it's a little "done." Always gets a good response, though, which is what the OP is looking for.

Some other songs more or less in the same vein:

You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
Up On Cripple Creek
The Weight

[Michael Bridges]

I know a lot of people are resistant to playing "Man of Constant Sorrow", but people know it and love it. "Hey! That's that song George Clooney sang in that movie!"

[Cryo]

http://youtu.be/W3uBoOyoqo8

Same jam group doing Take It Easy. We will pass around the other suggestions. The nice thing is that the group is amenable to trying different things. Keep trying to find songs that have the right chemistry. Any other suggestions are much appreciated. We have been going through the songs in the Coen Bros. movies with some success.

[Bigtuna]

I would be happy to take the blame and all the paychecks as well! However, I agree it's over played.

[mandocrucian]

(You folks do realize that "Achy Breaky" is just a ripoff of "Tulsa Time"?

[mandocrucian]

(Requires a lot more vocal harmony chops than Old Crow has.) So you may want to consider the jazz sax version ala Sonny Rollins....

[Drew Egerton]

I did not come to this forum this morning and expect to see Achy Breaky Heart. Lol.

[Michael Weaver]

I did not come to this forum this morning and expect to see Achy Breaky Heart. Lol.

I couldn't bring myself to click on it. It's like intentionally putting your finger in a mouse trap.

[montana]

Who's worst Billy or Miley?

[wsugai]

Just curious - how does a song get on the overplayed list? There are a whole bunch of Bill Monroe songs that are probably overplayed as well but they never make the list (I think).

I would be happy to take the blame and all the paychecks as well! However, I agree it's over played.

[Denman John]

Was at a jam last night and Wagon Wheel is one of the songs we were working on. Overplayed, but a fun song to play none the less. People seemed to like it.

[journeybear]

I know a lot of people are resistant to playing "Man of Constant Sorrow", but people know it and love it. "Hey! That's that song George Clooney sang in that movie!"

When I was playing in a duo, mostly classic country, we got a lot of requests for this when the movie was out and for ever after. The request was most often phrased, "Hey, play 'O Brother.'" Every now and then I would respond, "The whole movie?" Blank stare. Same thing with "Duelling Banjos." "Hey, can you play 'Deliverance?'" Again, "The whole movie?" Blank stare. People!

I did not come to this forum this morning and expect to see Achy Breaky Heart. Lol.

No one does. Or should! BTW, I don't see it as having anything to do with "Tulsa Time," other than the similar chord pattern. It stands on its own as a terrifying achievement in undeserved popularity and one of the worst songs of all time, in fact, nearly THE worst, edged out by "We Built This City" by Starship.

[Dan Hulse]

I respectfully submit "Ball and Chain", by Social Distortion.

[Nick Pooch]

"This must be the place (Naive melody)"by the talking heads covered by cornmeal the jam grass band of chicago always made the crowd go nuts!

[jesserules]

Wagon Wheel = Rocky Top 2.0

[Tobin]

I would really like to hear bluegrass jam versions of Knockin' On Heaven's Door. We could make that the next overplayed song sensation.

[Alex Orr]

A new guy at our jam last night asked if it was a "Wagon Wheel" friendly jam and was promptly told by the bass player and guitarist who have anchored the jam for at least a decade that it was not and that we don't play that song here. I actually thought it was pretty amusing to see it be turned down. That said, it's a fun tune that doesn't get called often around here, and since I never listen to country radio, I have yet to have it become overplayed in my life.

[allenhopkins]

Jams where certain songs are banned seem odd to me; if someone had suggested Foggy Mountain Breakdown or Rocky Top, would the answer have been the same? I resurrected Fox On the Run at a join-in open mic a few months ago. "Back in the day" that was played over and over again, perhaps not so much now.

Ya know, one of the reasons songs get overplayed is that they're good songs. We had a "Dylan night" at our folk club tonight (Bob turned 73 this week, can you believe it?), and I led Blowing In the Wind. Someone said to me, "Well, I guess we can sing that song now, since everyone's not singing it any more." So I guess, if everyone else is singing a song, we "cool people" can't?

No bluegrass content, but I went to a Tom Paxton concert a year or two ago, and he sang Last Thing On My Mind -- a song he wrote 50 years ago, that's been covered by many, and sung at a zillion hootenannies and sing-arounds, open mics and campfires. He said, "People ask me if I get tired of singing that song. I say to them 'Would you?'"

So, I try not to be snobbish. If someone wants to do Will the Circle Be Unbroken or Mountain Dew, well, what's the harm? Doing seniors' programs as much as I do, I must sing You Are My Sunshine 150 times a year. Still a good song, and people know it and join in. That's not necessarily a bad thing, is it?