This was the most well-attended session I can remember. There were so many of us you'd think we were giving out free booze. Along with Vin, Cris, Tom, Liz, Joe, Dave, Arlene, Ken, Jen (Hooray....she's back!), Nathan, Larry (his second visit), John and Wendysue, there were three new recruits: Anne, Rochelle and Christine.

The theme of the night, Liz' suggestion, was songs with states in the title or lyrics. She started the evening with Deep in the Heart of Texas. I never would have guessed that Perry Como had the first hit with this in 1942. Then a version by Gene Autry became more famous. (It was tough to put down your uke, do the four fast handclaps then pick up the uke again to strum the next chord.)

Jen picked Country Roads (John Denver). Fabulous. We've played this in the past, maybe on "Four Chord Night." We tried it in two different keys, C and G. I always try everything in C first, the friendliest ukulele key, but sometimes things sound nicer for the singers in another key. It's probably worth it to fool around with different keys in order to stretch oneself. The website Ultimate Guitar has a cool function which transposes keys up or down to anything you can think of.

Jen's next pick was California Girls (Beach Boys), another nice one, but we fell apart towards the end. Then she had us do Carolina in the Morning, a standard from the pre-rock era.

Arlene had the most picks this session, starting with a really nice song by ABBA, but one I didn't know: Happy Hawaii. Most of us didn't know it, but it was easy to play. I found out it was released as a single in England, but not in the States, and almost nowhere else.

Next was the simple three-chord song by Lynard Skynard, Sweet Home Alabama. As simple as it seemed, it didn't come out that well. It reminded me of another one from last session, Joan Jett's I Love Rock and Roll, which looked simple enough, but was hard to do.

Blue Moon of Kentucky (Bill Monroe) was a pick of Vin's months ago on Cowboy Night. Arlene picked it again for State Night. It's a country/bluegrass number. She followed it with Yellow Rose of Texas.

We haven't seen Wendysue in a long time. She was back tonight and contributed Wilbert Harrison's 1959 hit Kansas City.

Blue Hawaii was done by Bing Crosby in 1937, then again by Elvis Presley in a movie of the same name in the early sixties. This was another very pretty one which I didn't know, and was Arlene's last suggestion.

Ken picked California Dreamin' (Mamas and Papas), a sensational song but a little tough to play as a group. I was trying to sing the backup part but I fear I only muddied the waters. We learned a new chord: A7sus4. Let this be a reminder to all you young people that fun and learning can live side by side.

Then Ken suggested Sinatra's New York, New York. There was a mystery chord somewhere in the middle we couldn't quite figure out, but we bluffed our way through.

John picked My Old Kentucky Home (Stephen Foster). Despite some politically-incorrect lyrics, it's a nice-sounding song, written just prior to the civil war.

The Doors' version of Alabama Song ("Oh show me the way to the next whiskey bar.....") was selected by Vin. It's from their debut album in 1966 and included their breakout song Light My Fire.

Dave had two to close the show: Minnesota Polka, and the Tennessee Waltz (Patti Page, 1950). This song is the biggest-selling song ever in Japan. Why would that be? How odd.

I was worried that with the theme of state songs, we wouldn't have enough material to fill two hours, but I was mistaken. We packed the room with players and didn't lack for good songs. Well done, musical comrades.

Next time, January 30, we're going to do it again, with Songs About Food, a suggestion from one of our newest players, Rochelle.

-- Dan.