I’m sitting in a coffee shop in Washington DC. Among other tasks for the morning is making set lists for tonight’s house concert. While doing that – and marveling, again, at the percentage of songs I want to put into my sets that are not yet recorded – I started thinking more systematically about what songs have a realistic shot at being on the next CD. I ended up dividing them into three categories. Definitely on the next CD: -I Was Here -Dandelion Wine -Bigger, Faster, and More -Susanna's Song -What I’ll Leave Behind -The Disarray -Where the Words and Music Meet -Pan-Religious Bluegrass Band -Welcome This Winter Morn [I should mention that they’re roughly in order of importance; I can see a logic to leaving any of the last three on that list off and although I hope they’ll make the cut, those are the ones I could live with leaving off if there were compelling reasons to do so. The first 6, though, are non-negotiable.] Strong candidates for the next CD: -Find My Place -You Remind Me -If I Could Tell You -Ludlow, 1914 Songs that need a tiny tweak but could then be strong candidates: -Underground -Snake Eyes -Half of a Song -Crooked Plow Each of these has a couple words or phrases that aren’t quite the way I want them to be, but could be great songs if I can figure those bits out. What’s amazing is that there are probably another 10 completed songs that I’m not even listing; they’re fine and I’m sure I enjoyed writing them, but they’re not as good as the ones above. It’s been quite the year of songwriting. Because I’ll be working with a producer (yet to be determined who that is), that person will weigh in on which songs are the most appropriate for the version of the album we’ll try to make, or which fit best together (or, alternately, provide the sonic variation that an album needs). I could imagine, for instance, Pan-Religious Bluegrass Band, not making the cut, not because isn’t a great song – people love it when I play it, and it plays a useful role in a set – but because it’s so different from the rest of the songs I’d include that it might not fit well with them. So we’ll see. If you have thoughts about which ones you’d want to make sure are on the CD (or which ones you’d be willing to go without) let me know. And if you haven’t heard a majority of these songs . . . well, perhaps that’s a sign that you should get yourself out to a show in the near future, eh?