Who selects the songs in your band?

Walter Stettner · From: Vienna, Austria

How do you select the songs you play with your band? Is it a "democratic" way of choosing, with everybody's input, or is it the "boss" saying "Here's the sheet, go and learn it."?

How big is the pressure from audiences, club owners etc. to play current hit songs? Does your band have a stock library of tunes that is updated every now and then?

Do you add songs to your playlist more because people are requesting them all the time rather than you really want to play them?

In my band, we try to be democratic, that means every musician's input is welcome which adds lots of surprises to our repertoire of app. 60 songs, because we have material from different musical styles (Country, Rock, Jazz etc.) available. This also allows us to adjust our song list to suit the event we are going to play. We also do have a couple of frequently requested songs like "Okie from Muskogee", "Ring Of Fire" and "Me And Bobby McGee" ready to play(keep in mind that requested songs here in Europe might be different from typical requests in the U.S.!). These songs are kept in the playlist without too much rehearsing.

Walter

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Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

The band I play with has a pretty strong song list but I think at times they play songs and don't pay attention to whats going on.

When it's my time up front which is maybe 3 or 4 songs per set, I may change the song based on the crowd, dance floor etc..

I don't give them a chance to comment, I just tell them " New Song , title and the Key" and kick it off...

As far as songs in general, it's not me..unless all of a sudden I pull one out from years past that they add to the list.

And, I don't make the set list either..I just show up and do it...I can only control myself..sometimes that is...

t

Charles French · From: Ms.

This brings two things to mind. A band I played in years ago. I would always gripe about the songs that were called out. The guy calling them would tell me "Just shutup and play em, you ain't gonna get paid any extra for not playing em". Then there was this band I worked with where the lead singer always wanted to start out with "Help Me Make It Through The Night" looking back I now see how ironious that was! Yes, please help ME make it through another night.

Now I call out whatever I want to play and if they don't like it then my wife and son can just go shopping and take the dog with them.

cf

Ray Montee · From: Portland, Oregon (deceased)

Until the early 1960's, I'd NEVER seen a play list of songs. Live television required it however for a number of reasons. Prior to that and for the hundreds of dances and with various top groups of the day, the band leader would name a tune and off we'd go. He'd have another picked out prior to the end of current tune being played. He'd then turn to me, telling me to plan on kicking off such and such or "give me an instrumental."
These top rated groups in this area, played to the crowd. We played to the dancers on the floor and were flexible for changes in dancer activities on the floor.
Going into a "dance" environment with a set play list, IMHO, defeats the whole reason for your being there. SOme nights they want belt buckle polishing slow dances; other nights, they want upbeat swing tunes; and if you miss what your audience wants, you can watch them as they clear the floor and head for the door. Some locations are set in the dances they do while 100 miles down the road, the crowds differ completely in their dance moods/tastes.
Today, I believe too many of the players
simply want to play what they want to hear and have no concept of why they're there and lack any ability to determine what it is the crowd wants to hear. A lot of groups are very limited in what they play, top 40 only, one artists hits to exclusion of all others, etc. Music is an art; not a mechanical job.

Fred Shannon · From: Rocking "S" Ranch, Comancheria, Texas, R.I.P.

[This message was edited by Fred Shannon on 06 December 2004 at 01:28 AM.]

Bobby Lee · From: Cloverdale, California, USA

We're an original band, so the selection of tunes is what we've written.

A while back we were having some problems with the flow of the sets. To fix it, we put each of the song titles on a strip of paper. Then we all gathered around the kitchen table and arranged the strips into sets. It worked really well. Everyone had input. If somebody's part was similar in two songs, they could object to putting those songs next to each other.

The lists we use today have evolved from that kitchen table session. I expect that someday we'll do it again.

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Drew Howard · From: 48854

The singers. I'm just the musician :>)

Drew

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www.drewhoward.com

Jack Francis · From: Queen Creek, Arizona, USA

Generally I make up a set list because I double on guitar and steel so I like to keep the flow going when jumping between axes.
As we start it's pretty easy to see what the crowd is into..some nights we play all country, others classic rock all night.

We have over a hundred songs that we pull from so were pretty well covered. We like to mix things up and the crowd seems to enjoy a variety of material.

The drummer and other guitar player/keyboard player have been together for 20 years, I joined them 8 years ago and our bass player over 2 years ago...nice to have everybody on the same page.

Gene Jones · From: Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)

My employer hires me for a job and then he sends me the charts for the "songs that HEorSHE has selected". Works for me!
www.genejones.com

Kevin Hatton · From: Buffalo, N.Y.

Its a democracy in our band. Each band member gets to pick one song. If it is not poplular with the crowd we drop it after a few weeks. We also weed out older songs that have been done to death so that our crowd doesn't get bored. We just finished rehearsing eight new songs half of which are top 40 hits. We will be learning ten more for the coming summer season. We listen to what songs our crowd requests us to play even if some of us detest it. The sound man drops a three set list in front of everyone ten minutes before we go on. There is a standing rule that there is no more than 15 seconds between each song. No audible tuning is aloud on stage. We all have in line tuners.

[This message was edited by Kevin Hatton on 07 January 2004 at 10:20 PM.]

Gene Jones · From: Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)

"If I hear anything but an "e", your fired! You can practice or rehearse on your own time!
www.genejones.com

Leon Grizzard · From: Austin, Texas, USA

Members of the band suggest songs at practice, and if we all agree, we add it to the list. If one or two are lukewarm, we may try out for a while. If anyone just hates it, we don't do it.

At gigs, the leader will usually bring some set lists, but we often ingore them, and play the right tune rather than the next tune, based on energy level, who the audience turns out to be, etc. The trick is to keep it going instead of standing around talking about it.

Charles French · From: Ms.

We seldom use a song list. We usually play what ever comes to mind or whatever someone request as long as it's something we like. Anyway the 3-5 minute allotment between songs is plenty of time for one of us to come up with a song. We like to take time to light a smoke and take a few drinks and tell some old wore out jokes. One nite I was tuning my guitar (up or down I don't remember) and the other guitar player said to me " You need a guitar like mine, it always stays in tune" so I said to him "Really, you ought to bring it with you sometime". Anyway we always have a lot of fun and every one else too. Heck we know everybody at the little old clubs we play. We do work up some new old songs on the spot. We don't weed out old songs or weed have nothing to play. It's alot of fun, heck that's why they call it playing.

cf

Jim Peters · From: St. Louis, Missouri, USA, R.I.P.

My band has a set list that rarely makes 3 songs before we digress! I call the songs by the crowd response. Our singer(my wife) has final say, sometimes she needs a break or rest. btw, my band is r&b/blues/rock. The only"country" song we do is crazy bout a mercury, though we used to do crazy, and of course now we are crazy! thanks Jim P.

Don Discher · From: Sault Ste Marie,Ontario,Canada

I'm fortunate to have 4 singers in my band and each has their own style.Origially I started with Charlie Pride songs,Merle Haggard,George Strait and Allan Jackson,My girl singer does Patti Loveless,Dixie Chicks,Sheryl Crowe and Shania songs,the drummer does Keith Whitley,Mavericks and a great John Connely impression and guitar player is kinda mellow Marty Robbins style.I usually do the first song or 2 and then we rotate throughout the band with me calling the shots for whether it's a fast or slow song that I want them to do.The girl and I have been together in the band for almost 25 years and it's been working real well.We're just weekend warriors having some fun and making a few bucks.

Dave Birkett · From: Oxnard, CA, USA

Making a singer sing a song he or she doesn't like to sing has never worked out well.

Walter Stettner · From: Vienna, Austria

Dave,

You're right. Sometimes we dropped songs from our list because none of the vocalists in the band was really satisfied with it, sometimes we also have to convince the vocalist that it sounds OK...

Walter
www.austriansteelguitar.at.tf

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[This message was edited by Walter Stettner on 17 January 2004 at 02:08 PM.]

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