Cheerful music

'You're Breaking My Heart" by Harry Nilsson always brings a smile to my face.

Then you must like Take 54 as well. Love that album.

Karla: Try Nothing But Flowers -- Talking Heads. You might enjoy the irony.

Others:

Walkin' on Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves
In These Shoes? - Kirsty McColl
Beautiful Way - Beck
Boombox - Mosquitos

It's considered the American version of things like Irish folk music
That was exacly what I was thinking of when I listened to some songs, reminded me of some sessions I've seen in Irish pubs... Works indeed as a cheerup :D

You got any early Bruce Springsteen? Some of his songs with the E street band were really up-beat. Dancing in the dark, and .. oh, I don't know offhand, but there were some real get up and go numbers.
And you've got a nice voice and some talent at singing and playing yourself. I think that some of your songs would probably cheer me up.
Nope, only got the newer one ;) But I think I'll only have to browse through my dad's music to get that I guess... As for the singing, I'm not that good at all but yeah, it might work to get my mind off it.
If I manage to produce anything today I'll put it in the SSG forum for you to critise ^^

As for the other songs mentioned, I'm just gonna perform some illegal downloading I think :oops:

Bluegrass isn't traditional Irish music, though that gets played a lot at bluegrass festivals and such. Bluegrass isn't "old time" folk music or early country stuff, either. It's a style named for Bill Monroe's "Bluegrass Boys" band. Started in the late '40s and hit the big time during the '60s folk music revival. Bill Monroe himself said that the music was based on a combination of Appalachian mountain gospel music, Scottish folk music, and blues. (Several favorite bluegrass standards are actually old blues songs, done in a very different style from the originals.) The "New Grass" or progressive players mix in a lot of other stuff like jazz and swing. The only electric instruments I see bluegrass players using are electric upright basses. Bluegrass is played very fast, and nobody shreds like an accomplished bluegrass picker. The banjo, mandolin and fiddle rule, and the guitar and bass are there for rhythm accompaniment for the most part. Dobro's been a popular addition since the '60s or so, though Bill Monroe always insisted a Dobro had no place in a bluegrass band. The singing's shrill tenor stuff, too, for the most part. I enjoy a live bluegrass show, but I wouldn't sit and listen to it on CD anymore. (I used to be a big fan, but kind of burned out on it.)

Aimee(What you wanna do) by Pure Prairie League always cheers me up. It's not necessarily a cheerful song but it does it for me

Bluegrass isn't traditional Irish music, though that gets played a lot at bluegrass festivals and such. Bluegrass isn't "old time" folk music or early country stuff, either.

I was likening it to the sounds that come from some of the Irish folk music...I did not mean thats where it came from or thats what it is. When I said American version, I only meant that it sounds like it to a degree (moreso than it sounds like country, old time folk music or anything except maybe Scottish folk music, which I wouldnt know because I have never technically listened to that). I agree with everything that you said except:
The only electric instruments I see bluegrass players using are electric upright basses.

A specific artist (New Grass Revival) uses electric guitar and violectra.
New Grass Revival's 1981 album, Commonwwealth, features Sam Bush, lead vocals, mandolin, fiddle, violectra, acoustic guitar, electric guitar; John Cowan, lead vocals, electric bass, acoustic bass, percussion; Curtis Burch, acoustic guitar, 6-string Dobro, 10-string Dobro, steel guitar, vocals, and Courtney Johnson, 5-string banjo, 5-string Dobro, vocals.

However, I did note that you said only the ones you've seen.

Oh, and the fiddle rocks :)

I used to see The New Grass Revival now and then back in the '70s, when I was a big fan of theirs. Never saw an electric instrument then. At least, not that I now recall. I recall seeing Béla Fleck guesting with them, before he joined the group, at a show in Birmingham, Alabama circa 1979. He was 20, I think, a shy kid who said little but grinned at the ribbing he got for being a New York City kid. He could really tear it up on the banjo! Sam Bush, Pat Flynn, and John Cowan were terrific musicians, as well. If memory serves me, Mike Auldridge was playing dobro with them.

Sam Bush played a gig in Kingsport, Tennessee last year. Played acoustic blues on guitar, much of it slide. He was at the Rhythm and Roots Festival here in Bristol last month doing the bluegrass mandolin thing again.

A group I always enjoyed was "The Red Clay Ramblers."

I really liked Norman and Nancy Blake and their band, too. Nancy's 1780s Bohemian cello was a nice addition to a bluegrass band. Norman liked to dig out the "chili dippers," (mandolins), and had the first mandocello I saw. He first enlightened me about the mandolin orchestras of the 19th century, with mandolins of all sizes.

I wish I knew more about the different bluegrass groups. I love the music, I just dont know anything about the groups except what I posted.

The more specific information I have came from web searches so that Karla could do some more digging if it interested her. The more general info is what I've picked up listening to a lot of it. Someday when I get more time (that someday just keeps on getting further away), I plan on learning a bit more about it, because I'd eventually like to play a bit. However, bluegrass seems like very technical music, and I'm just not ready for it yet. However, I did learn that a mandolin and a violin are tuned the same, so I may have to give the old fiddle a go one of these days.

early van morrison.

techno can be cheerful, i guess, considering etards and ravers love that stuff.

bobby mcfaren "don't worry, be happy"

Bluegrass isn't traditional Irish music, though that gets played a lot at bluegrass festivals and such. Bluegrass isn't "old time" folk music or early country stuff, either. It's a style named for Bill Monroe's "Bluegrass Boys" band. Started in the late '40s and hit the big time during the '60s folk music revival.

The Monroe brothers (Bill sang and played mandolin, Charlie played guitar) were one of the most popular groups of the 1920's. They didn't hit the Grand Ole Opry until 1939, but they spent nearly 20 years prior to that being one of the most popular touring groups in that part of the world.

Still, the "classic" bluegrass sound is probably more properly traced to 1946 -- when banjo player Earl Scruggs joined the Monroe band. Scruggs' invented his own finger picking style of playing that has become to be known as "Scruggs style" banjo.

A bit later, Scruggs and Lester Flatt left Monroe to form their own band, The Foggy Mountain Boys. They added a resonator guitar (Dobro) to the line-up.

The first references to "bluegrass music" begin to appear in the early 1950's, and are almost always in reference to they style of the Foggy Mountain Boys, and not Monroe -- that is, bands including fiddle, banjo and dobros. Monroe's music is classified today as Bluegrass, of course, but there is actually some debate within the musicologists as if it should be included or not.

A bit of trivia -- Bill Monroe is a member of both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and of the Bluegrass Museum's "hall of honor."

Put on some Bo Didley, you'll be so busy tapping your foot and shakin your groove thing you'll forget all about that jerk.