Annie's November Blog - UPDATED 11/11/25

A few words about set lists...

I've been doing the set lists for Crossmolina for...well...since we started. Every so often (okay, maybe once or twice) I'd get someone else to do it but strangely enough, no one else really wants to. So it's been me and the old saying that goes something like “I am playing with a full deck, it's just the same cards keep coming to the top” kind of applies to my set lists. We have a pretty big repertoire and it keeps growing but there are several songs that everyone in our audiences like and expect to hear so yeah...the same songs keep coming to the top. Also, there are my favourites (if someone asked me what my favourite song is they'd wind up with a list of about a hundred), or at least my favourites at the moment and since I'm the one making the list, I put in what I want to play. The opportunity is always there for others to chime in and make suggestions but that rarely happens.

There is some method to my madness as far as what I put in a set list and in what order. I'll create mini-sets...a handful of songs that go together either in theme (ie: rebel songs) or by artist. I'll try to be clever by putting a couple of songs together because they sort of tell a story when done in that order. Like playing “Paddy Works on the Railway” followed by “The Night Paddy Murphy Died.” (For those who don't know the lyrics, “Railway” ends with Paddy “thinking of going to Heaven.”) Most of the time those things are lost on everyone so you could say I'm really just amusing myself. But the most important thing I try to do is keep it fresh. The last thing we want is folks saying they always hear the same stuff in the same order like you could tell the time by what song we're playing. We do almost always start and end with the same songs...one being our “make sure the sound mix is what it should be” and the other being a good one to end on. But everything in between is subject to change without notice.

So set lists are never written in stone. More like in sand as the tide is coming in. We can have a plan and start playing and either we're just not feeling it for what's in the set list or the audience has their own ideas about what they want to hear so things change. We try to always say “if there's something you want to hear, shout it out and if we know it we'll play it.” That can be a chancy thing because someone may ask for something we haven't done in years and we're usually fool enough to try it. Sometimes it comes out like we had rehearsed it yesterday. Sometimes...not so much.

There was also the time that we played at a place with an Irish name the week after St. Patrick's Day so we had a set list heavily loaded with Irish songs. About two songs in someone came up to us and said “we want to hear country music.” (Ummm...I thought Ireland is a country!) So that set list went right out the window and we dredged up every country (or country-ish) song in our repertoire. And no one threw anything at us :-)

So I guess the moral of this story is...I'll go on making the set lists and try to keep it varied but if there's anything y'all want to hear, please feel free to speak up and we'll try not to make a hash of it.

As always...here's our upcoming schedule:

Saturday, November 15th we'll be at the Little Theatre Cafe playing from 7:00 – 9:00pm. Always a great time there! The Little Theatre Cafe is at 240 East Avenue, Rochester, NY. (The cafe is around the corner from the main Theatre entrance) https://thelittle.org/cafe

On Sunday, November 30th we'll be back at Temple Bar and Grille for Celtic music Sunday, 6:30 - 9:30pm. It'll be a great way to finish off Thanksgiving weekend. If you're tired of turkey there's plenty of food choices and of course drinks to be had at Temple Bar and Grille,109 East Ave, Rochester. https://www.templebarandgrille.com/

Then we start the Christmas season! First off will be our annual Christmas music celebration at Thornbee Farm on Saturday, December 6th. We'll be playing for at least two hours in the afternoon but not sure of the time yet. Will fill you in on more details as it gets closer. Thornbee Farm is located at 915 Kuttruff Road, Walworth. https://thornbeefarm.com/

And we'll be back at the Little Theatre Cafe on Sunday, December 14th, also 7:00 – 9:00pm. This one will also feature a lot of Christmas music!

We'll also be playing Christmas music on Friday, December 19th at 77 West Main in Macedon. This is a lovely intimate venue that promotes the local music scene. There will be an open mic session from 6:30 - 8:00pm and then we'll be doing Christmas music from 8:00 till..... 77 West Main Street is also the address in Macedon, NY. They ask a $10 donation at the door. There's coffee, tea and cookies available at 77. https://lamay.com/77westmain.htm

And looking way ahead...we're already scheduled to play at Ramsey's at Champion Hills on Friday, March 13th. There will be Irish dancers performing from 5:30 – 6:00pm and then we'll play from 6:00 – 8:00pm.