(Hmm, seeking opinions on music: Cafe Society or IMHO? I flipped a virtual coin.)
As I’ve reported elsewhere on these boards, my father recently died, an event that is not particularly upsetting to me because he was not really much of a father.
Anyway, I’ve shared the fact of his passing with a few friends. One of them, a professional musician, has very kindly offered to provide music at the memorial service, anything we might like her to play as long as we give her enough time to learn it. I passed this offer on to my mother and she said she would definitely consider it. (The service, which will be fairly short and simple, will be held sometime next spring.)
Here’s the rub: My friend sings and plays guitar and Celtic harp, and quite beautifully too. It’s just the sort of music my dad would have scoffed at, but I’m quite sure that my mom and other people attending the service would enjoy it. My mom suggested that perhaps my friend could simply play background music either before or after the service, as people are entering or leaving. That would be fine, and easy for my friend, as obviously she already has a repertoire of just that sort of thing.
But another idea, which my mom suggested, would be maybe to play a bit of something along my dad’s musical tastes. Ho-kaaayyyy . . . He was not an active audiophile, but his tastes ran (as she described them) to Chet Atkins, Johnny Cash, and the like.
That would be interesting . . . but I’m having a hard time coming up with songs from that genre that would (1) mesh with my friend’s style and instrumentation and (2) be appropriate for a memorial service. My dad was an atheist, so anything overtly religious would be out. I’d think that these guys, over their long careers, would have written/recorded something that might be appropriate for this occasion.
My friend is usually game for anything musically, but whatever she plays almost always has her unique stamp on it.
Should we stick with just mellow background music, or can someone here with a bit more musical knowledge suggest something appropriate in the Atkins/Cash arena?
TIA for any ideas . . .