Another year is about to roll around—and it’s an opportunity to put together a playlist for the occasion. (I am obsessed with making playlists.) The new year brings up all kinds of thoughts: parties, winter time, drinking, dancing, staying up past midnight, reliving memories, and making resolutions. The songs on this playlist reflect a bit of everything related to the annual changing of the calendar.
The list is also a deeper dive into Newgrass. The word gets thrown around a bit, but what exactly is Newgrass? Despite the word new being in there, Newgrass goes back to the 1970s, which is recent history for some of us, and positively the Stoned Age (pun intended) for others. The main band associated with the movement, not surprisingly, was the New Grass Revival (Sam Bush, Courtney Johnson, Ebo Walker, Curtis Burch, Butch Robins, John Cowan, Béla Fleck, and Pat Flynn). More recent bands include the Infamous Stringdusters or the molto vivace, 250-bpm, Trampled by Turtles.
Newgrass moved away from the music of Bill Monroe and took songs from other genres, including rock and pop. The arrangements included less traditional chord progressions, and often were more “jam band-like” than the tight arrangements of traditional bluegrass. Newgrass also brought in more non-trad instruments, like drums, pianos, dobros, and electric guitars.
Here’s the very long list of this new year’s choices. I figure that a new year’s party needs a lot of music. You’re going to hear some electric guitars, pianos, and drums, as on “Dandelion Wine” by Railroad Earth and “Honkytonk Tequila,” by Hot Buttered Rum. There are also some song choices that Mr. Monroe might not recognize as part of the bluegrass canon–Bob Seger’s “Night Moves,” as performed by Don Rigsby, King Harvest’s “Dancing in the Moonlight,” played by Yonder Mountain String Band, and “Celebrate,” by Sam Bush, a short Newgrass interpretation of Kool and the Gang’s “Celebration.” And what would any Newgrass list be without “Midnight Moonlight” by Old & In the Way? There are also some more traditional bands included for a bit of variety and to stick to the theme of the new year.
Be sure to listen to Bill Keith’s lovely rendition of “Auld Lang Syne,” from “Something Auld, Something Newgrass, Something Borrowed, Something Bluegrass” (1976). In the liner notes, under “Auld Lang Syne,” it says, “Is there anybody that hasn’t heard this tune? Is there anybody that knows what the title means?”
May you and your loved ones have a happy, healthy, and music-filled new year!
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If you have Spotify, you can dial up yourself on the app or web.
You can also make your own list from this one; copy it and add and subtract to your heart’s content.
$8 Beer, Them Coulee Boys
8th Of January, David Grisman
A Blue Midnite Star, David Grier
A Hard Life Makes a Good Song, The Infamous Stringdusters
A Night on the Town, Ricky Skaggs
After Midnight, The Seldom Scene
All Night Long, Steve Martin
Auld Lang Syne, Bill Keith
Beer Tree, The Grascals
Better Times, Bad Livers
Blue Night, Hot Rize
Borealis, Darol Anger
Bottle Dry, Greensky Bluegrass
Bourbon & Rosewater, Jerry Douglas
Bourbon Hound, Della Mae
Celebrate, Sam Bush
Choices and Changes, Sierra Hull
Clear Corn Liquor, The Grascals
Cold Frosty Morn, Blue Highway
Colder Nights, Kitchen Dwellers
Come Dance, Steep Canyon Rangers
Come on in My Kitchen, Crooked Still
Corn Liquor Made a Fool Out of Me/Country Blues, Bad Livers
Crossroads Bar, Laurel Canyon Ramblers
Dance with Me, Alison Brown with Rob Ickes
Dancing in the Moonlight, Yonder Mountain String Band
Dandelion Wine, Railroad Earth
Daysleeper, Front Country
Decades, The Lil Smokies
Domino Party! The Duhks
Don’t Make Me Get Up and Go, The Brothers Comatose
Dreamtime Crazy, Mountain Billies
Drinkin’ in the Morning, Trampled by Turtles
Drunk Again, Henhouse Prowlers
Drunk and Sad, Split Lip Rayfield
Dry Town, Valerie Smith
Dusk ‘Til Dawn, Special Consensus
Firewater, Old Crow Medicine Show
From the Bottle, Della Mae
Future Man, Strength in Numbers
Gone Wayback, The Waybacks
Homemade Wine, Gibson Brothers
Honkytonk Tequila, Hot Buttered Rum
Howlin’ At the Moon, Sam Bush
If I Could Talk to a Younger Me, Abigail Washburn and Béla Fleck
In the Middle of the Night, New Grass Revival
It Feels Real Good Goin’ Down, Lonesome River Band
Jubilee, Mary Chapin Carpenter
Kissin’ Comes Easy, Front Country
Little Glass of Wine, Del McCoury
Lonesome Daybreak, Steep Ravine
M80, Frank Solivan
Makin’ Time, Cherryholmes
Midnight, The Ephemeral Stringband featuring Tatiana Hargreaves
Midnight 402, Amanda Cook
Midnight Angel, Rhonda Vincent
Midnight Blues, Leftover Salmon
Midnight Ferry, The Greencards
Midnight Moonlight, Old & In the Way
Midnight on the Interstate, Trampled by Turtles
Midnight Rider, Same Old Newgrass Band
Midnight Road, Town Mountain
Night Flyer, Tony Rice
Night Moves, Don Rigsby
Night Out, Yonder Mountain String Band
Now Forever’s Gone, Sister Sadie
One Winter’s Night, Strength in Numbers
Pallet on Your Floor, Kruger Brothers
Pass Me the Whiskey, Lindsay Lou & the Flatbellys
Red Wicked Wine, Hot Buttered Rum
Rye Whiskey, Punch Brothers
Same Auld Lang Syne, Don Rigsby
Scotch & Chocolate, Nickel Creek
See You Around, I’m With Her
Simple & Sober, Lindsay Lou & the Flatbellys
Sleep with One Eye Open, Chris Thile
Song for A Winter’s Night, Tony Rice
Tequila with Lime Water Tower Bucket Boys
The Wild Side of Life, Del McCoury
This Here Bottle, Hot Rize
Time After Time, Alison Brown
Time for a Change, High Strung String Band
Tracks in the Snow, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades
Wasted Time, Kind Country
What’s Left of the Night, Greensky Bluegrass
Whiskey Bound, The Earl Brothers
Whiskey Don’t Lie, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades
Whiskey Lullaby, Brad Paisley
Whiskey, Trampled by Turtles
Wide Awake, High Strung String Band
Won’t Be Long, The Infamous Stringdusters
