Disaster songs are the bluegrass repertoire’s news desk. When the train derailed, the mine collapsed, or the flood broke through, somebody wrote a song about it — and those songs traveled. “Wreck of the Old 97” turned a 1903 train crash into one of the most-recorded songs of the 20th century. “Casey Jones” did the same for the engineer who died at the throttle in 1900. “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” carried Gordon Lightfoot’s account of the 1975 sinking into the modern repertoire. “Pikeville Flood” and “Shut Up in the Mines at Coal Creek” commemorate specific tragedies. The form goes back to broadside ballads — but bluegrass and country kept it alive.

Each song’s page on Picker’s Guide has chord charts, lyrics, recordings, and song history.