These are the old-time songs that bluegrass grew out of. Most predate the music itself, carried down through Appalachian ballad singing, fiddle tunes, and the early commercial recordings of the 1920s and ’30s. The Carter Family put many of them on record first. Banjo players and ballad singers like Clarence Ashley and Dock Boggs put their stamp on others. When Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, and Flatt and Scruggs started building bluegrass in the 1940s, this was the material they already knew. You can still hear these songs at almost any jam, played slow and lonesome or kicked up to bluegrass tempo.

Use this list as a starting point if you’re learning to sit in at old-time or bluegrass jams. Each song’s page on Picker’s Guide has chord charts, lyrics, recordings, and song history. Pick a few, learn the words, and listen to a couple of versions before you bring them to a circle.