OK...here's a question to generate some genuine BLUEGRbutt DISCUSSION. What instruments do you consider to be essential to a bluegrbutt band?

Having asked the question, I'll tell you a little bit about my band. It's a 5 piece outfit. 1. I play banjo most of the time. There are a few songs on which I play guitar, and I can play mandolin a little, but I've successfully gotten my band to let me play banjo on the one song I originally played mando on. I sing lead on about 1-3 of the songs. 2. Our guitar player is a woman who plays mainly rhythm with lots of "G-runs" thrown in. She doesn't play much lead or any fast flat pick breaks, but she adds an excellent foundation to our songs. She sings lead on about 1-3 of our songs. She switches to washboard or autoharp on some songs (mostly when I play guitar, but not entirely). 3. Our Dobro player plays guitar on some songs, but he mostly plays Dobro (probably the best in Baton Rouge) and sings lead on about 1-3 of the songs. 4. Our mandolin player plays guitar on a few songs. He has a great voice but, so far, won't sing. Grrrrrrrr. 5. Our bbutt player plays bbutt. He can play some mandolin, guitar or banjo, but in performance situations, he plays bbutt. He either doesn't sing or hasn't revealed this talent to the rest of us, yet.

We play some traditional bluegrbutt, but we're not opposed to "bluegrbutting" other music. We will add things like "Knocking on Heaven's Door", old Hank, Sr. or Merle Haggard, or even some Beatles music done in bluegrbutt style from time to time.

So, tell me. What do YOU consider to be the elements of a bluegrbutt band?

Vince