So you’re out with friends in the Great Outdoors on a crisp night full of stars with the fire blazing. Someone has brought an acoustic guitar along with them. What are you going to play? Well, chances are you might be thinking about raiding the bluegrass and Americana genres for your song selection. That creates an uptown problem, because there are so many choices, with great songs galore that would make for perfect bonfire accompaniment. We’re here to help you out by giving our choices, so you better start learning these chords to these wonderful campfire songs.
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1. “Rocky Top” by The Osborne Brothers
It obviously helps if you’re hanging out in Tennessee when you bust this song out. But it really works just about anywhere, if only because it’s so much fun for a singalong. In addition, the song’s sentiment is ideal for the outdoor situation. After all, “Rocky Top” is essentially a desire to return to nature: I’ve had years of cramped up city life / Trapped like a duck in a pen. As a result, “Rocky Top” can be apropos anywhere out in the open air.
2. “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” by Ralph Stanley
Ralph Stanley is just one of countless artists that has put their spin on this classic, so you can really choose whatever version suits you best. The song has been around for hundreds of years, which means there must be something to it that keeps people singing along. Part of it could be the call-and-response setup which makes it ideal for friends to go back and forth at each other with the vocals.
3. “Mr. Bojangles” by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Jerry Jeff Walker wrote this classic based on a charismatic performer he met in a jail cell. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band gave it the most memorable reading. If you have the instrumentalists who can pull it off, you can really go to town with that famous arrangement. Or you can keep it simple with an acoustic guitar and focus on the ups and downs of the story. And it also features a simple, memorable refrain for everyone to belt out.
4. “Pancho and Lefty” by Townes Van Zandt
Van Zandt’s tale of two gunfighters separated by distance and circumstance has been the subject of endless interpretations. Outlaw songs are ideal for bonfire singalongs, as it hearkens back to when weary travelers on foot would camp for the night and sing songs of the Wild West. That’s not to mention that it’s a blast to sing those poetic Van Zandt lyrics, making us all sound more eloquent than we are in our own lives.
5. “Hickory Wind” by Gram Parsons
This song first made an appearance when Gram Parsons was a member of The Byrds, and then he recorded a version with Emmylou Harris providing memorable harmonies on Parsons’ final solo album, Grievous Angel from 1974. Much like “Rocky Top,” it’s a song where someone longs for the bucolic home of his youth (in this case South Carolina). Bonus points if you’re somewhere with pine trees like those mentioned in the song.
6. “Look at Miss Ohio” by Gillian Welch
The singalong quality of this classic from Gillian Welch makes it perfect for an acoustic guitar-fueled gathering. That refrain (Oh me oh my oh, look at Miss Ohio / She’s a-running around with her rag-top down / She says I want to do right but not right now) is perfect for that occasion as well. After all, we’re guessing there could be some adult beverages being consumed at just such a get-together, which means the willingness of the song’s heroine to have a little fun before settling down might just hit home even more than usual.
7. “Hello in There” by John Prine
It couldn’t be a bluegrass/Americana bonfire without somebody delivering some John Prine. As a matter of fact, you could just keep trotting out Prine songs all night long and never tire of it. If you are going to keep it to just one, why not go with “Hello in There?” The message of the song, about the unheeded inner lives of the elderly, never goes out of style. And it’s a beautiful melody to sing, while also being a relatively simple song to play on the acoustic guitar.
8. “Windfall” by Son Volt
What a way to begin: Jay Farrar’s alt-country darlings Son Volt released “Windfall” as the opening track on their very first album in 1995. The song might be a bit more existential than what you might normally expect for a bonfire ballad. But then you get to that lovely chorus, and it all makes perfect sense: May the wind take your troubles away / Both feet on the floor, two hands on the wheel / May the wind take your troubles away.
