On my solo gigs, I play a short acoustic set that I call my "World Tour". To give you an idea of what I mean, I start off "in" South America with Guitar Tango and Maggie's Samba. This section of my act has proved to be extremely popular with audiences (even those miserable, sarcastic sods in my local pub!), and I've had some great feedback. As it's been so successful, I've recently been looking to extend the "tour". The last couple of additions have been real hits with those who've heard them; they've definitely helped to improve the set and, therefore, the gig as a whole. It's fast becoming my favourite part of the night.
My question to you is: do you have any suggestions of acoustic-led pieces that I can add? I'm not just after instrumentals, but vocals too (nothing too high, though; I have a mid-range voice). Remember, I need tunes that include obvious elements of folk/world music, so that I can fit them onto my "route". They need to be culturally specific enough for the audience to feel as though I'm taking them on a musical journey to that country or region. Failing that, they at least need to include the notion of travel (eg: MW&F's My Home Town would be great if only there was a decent backing track out there, complete with backing vocals *hint*).
The countries/regions currently (or soon to be) featured in the set are:
- Argentina
- Brazil
- A postcard home
- France
- London
- A specific area of the North-West of England which is particularly close to my heart
- Ireland
- The return home
I also need to be able to source a high-quality backing track for each tune, so nothing too obscure, please.
So, hit me with those ideas. Thanks in advance.
J
