Bluegrass spends a lot of time thinking about death — not someone else’s, but the singer’s own. These songs are first-person reckonings with mortality and aging. “Wayfaring Stranger” is the form’s purest expression: “I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger, traveling through this world of woe.” “Oh Death” begs death to wait one more year. “Are You Afraid to Die” asks the listener the same question the singer’s already wrestling with. “Grandfather’s Clock” watches an old man’s clock stop the moment he dies. Whether the framing is gospel or secular, the question underneath is the same: what does it mean to know your time is short?

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