Next month the Nields are having their “Jam for the Fans” weekend, a set of events and shows commemorating their 20th anniversary of being a band. I wish I could go, but I have my own set of gigs that weekend. Although they didn’t know it (as I found out when I responded to a facebook post of theirs asking when people saw their first Nields show), I was a huge fan from nearly the beginning, following them to weird places to be able to see shows. (I remember a festival somewhere in Illinois for instance – Fox Valley or something?) That’s been my M.O. At almost any point in my life I’ve had a couple musicians I was absolutely passionate about and would do almost anything to be able to see live. At first it was Peter, Paul, and Mary, starting when I was very young (used my first allowance money to buy their records; saw my first concert of theirs when they reunited when I was in 8th grade, and from then on I saw them at least twice a year for a decade and a half). I even learned to drive (something I was extremely reluctant to do) so that I could go to a concert of theirs when my parents were out of town. Having learned to drive, I followed Swedish band J. P. Nyströms and Quebecois band Eritage (which was where Benoit Bourque got his start) around the Midwest one year. I planned my visits to college campuses, when I was deciding which school to attend, around the dates Holly Near was playing there. So this morning in the shower I started thinking about who is on the list of musicians for whom I’ve been that kind of fan (in this case, demonstrating what I assume to be the root – fanatic – of the word). Here, in a rough order (but really just a guess and some of these definitely overlap) are the ones I could remember: Peter, Paul, and Mary Stan Rogers Eritage J.P. Nystroms Holly Near John McCutcheon Patty Larkin Cheryl Wheeler Richard Shindell The Nields Dar Williams Oysterband 5 Chinese Brothers Moxy Früvous Rockapella James Keelaghan Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer We’re About 9 Crooked Still There are probably some I’ve forgotten, and there are many other musicians I’ve loved. But these are the ones I would arrange my travel plans around, traipse off to unfamiliar locales to see, look forward to for months when I knew I had tickets to see them play. Given how many shows I see, the best test of whether a person or band belongs on this list is whether simply knowing that there was a concert of theirs I could go to would get me to buy a ticket without thinking about what else the event would compete with – there would be no question that seeing this person or band play would be my highest priority. Who has been on your list?