Bluegrass Songs In a Minor Key?

[jaycat]

Help! Can you think of any? I am drawing a blank, except for maybe Polly Vaughn.

Have a jam coming up in a couple of hours and would love to bring in a little minor key flavor.

Thanks all!

[jaycat]

OK, I'm doing Pretty Polly in A minor.

[Amandalyn]

Help! Can you think of any? I am drawing a blank, except for maybe Polly Vaughn.

Have a jam coming up in a couple of hours and would love to bring in a little minor key flavor.

Thanks all!

Lots of Monroe tunes are in minor keys..... Kentucky Mandolin Gm, Lonesome Moonlight Waltz Dm, Jerusalem Ridge Am. Other tunes....Shady Grove, Wayfaring Stranger.

[Svea]

Go on Pandora radio and create a station using the song Jerusalem Ridge. You will get some good results. It worked for me. I love songs in a minor key.

Svea

[Dan Cole]

There's a line in a Grisman tune about him always playing in a minor key. I think its with Sam Bush

[crisscross]

Little Sadie and Cold rain and snow are songs that are maybe not originally bluegrass, but get played in that format quite often.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffQMQ7qHfqQ They are not natural minor, but dorian though-

[SGraham]

There are many old time tunes set in a minor key. Most bluegrass players know a few--or many. Many of them have a an A part in a major key and a B part in a minor key, or vice versa.

Cattle in the Cane
Bonaparte Crossing the Rocky Mountains
Frosty Morning
Sally in the Garden
Swallowtail Jig, etc...

Or how about Muddy Water for a vocal tune? How about Minor Swing? That's fun at a jam.

[Nick Pooch]

There's a line in a Grisman tune about him always playing in a minor key. I think its with Sam Bush

It's the jethro burns song "cept old bill"!

Love that song

[Dobe]

Deep Mine Blues - Dm - Larry Cordle

[Russ Donahue]

"Shady Grove" in Dm....

[Russ Donahue]

Oh....and "Wayfaring Stranger" in Am

[edandjudy3946]

Lonesome Fiddle Blues starts off in Dm

[AlanN]

Travellin' Kind, off an old Country Gentlemen record.

[LongBlackVeil]

You want minor flavor? How about southern flavor? Can't believe no one has mentioned it yet. One of my favorite tunes especially for mandolin

[allenhopkins]

Dillards, The Whole World Round, There Is a Time
Monroe, Wayfaring Stranger
Many variants of The Cuckoo are in minor keys, though I guess the standard BG treatment now is in major, like the Osborne Brothers version
Doc Watson et. al, Walk On Boy

Just some that come readily to mind, in addition to the ones suggested above.

Oh, and not really bluegrass, but could be a great bluegrass tune: House Of the Rising Sun.

[Mike Bunting]

Crossing the Cumberland, Bill does it in Gm. I find it interesting that people always assign keys here when the key of a tune is determined primarily by the range of the singer. I know that some instrumentals lay out best in certain keys but there is no rule saying that they must be played in any particular key. By the way, Wayfaring Stranger is in Gm when Bill plays
it.

[AlanN]

You want minor flavor? How about southern flavor? Can't believe no one has mentioned it yet. One of my favorite tunes especially for mandolin

This is one of those living in that nether world. I prefer to play it with major chord accompaniment.

[Mike Bunting]

This is one of those living in that nether world. I prefer to play it with major chord accompaniment.

MC calls it Em in part one and Emaj in part two.

[Robert Smyth]

Down In The Willow Garden

[re simmers]

Nashville Blues. House of the Rising Sun. Irish Spring. Bluegrass Minor (aka Kentucky Mandolin). Opus 57.

Is Grsiman's EMD in a minor? I've never played it.

I don't think Cept ol Bill is in a minor key, but I could be wrong.

[sgrexa]

EMD is indeed in Em. Easy to remember I would think.

Sean

[LongBlackVeil]

This is one of those living in that nether world. I prefer to play it with major chord accompaniment.

True, but it certainly sounds good with a minor backup as well

[Nick Pooch]

I don't think Cept ol Bill is in a minor key, but I could be wrong.

It's reference to david grisman playing everything in a minor key makes it relevant here.

[re simmers]

Ahhhhhh!!! That went right over my head!!! I need to wake up from my Redskins nap.

Bob

[Jim Broyles]

Down In The Willow Garden

This goes to the vi chord, but it's in a major key.

Also, there are two versions of "Shady Grove." Bill does it major.