Bluegrass has always had a thirsty side, and these seventeen songs sit a little off the main road. You’ll find Carter Stanley’s “Little Glass of Wine” and Don Reno’s “Trail of Sorrow” next to honky-tonk crossovers like Merle Haggard’s “Swinging Doors” and “The Bottle Let Me Down.” There’s Guy Clark’s “Dublin Blues,” James Taylor’s “Bartender’s Blues” by way of the Seldom Scene, Peter Rowan’s “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy,” and Andrew Marlin’s newer “Waltz About Whiskey.” They cover the whole arc of drinking — the bragging, the regret, the slow ruin — and most of them deserve a spot in more jams than they get.

Pick three or four to learn before the next pickin’ party and you’ll have something nobody else is calling. Each song’s page here has chord charts, lyrics, recordings to listen through, and a bit of song history to give you the story behind it.