Lots of great suggestions here.

I'd be especially interested in these (of those that have been suggested so far):
Songs of the Civil War
Cicely Fox Smith
Gospel songs -- especially original Gospel songs by our (shudder!) "singer-songwriters"*
"Parodies Lost And Regained"** (especially the outrageous ones!)
Jewish songs
Songwriter/songwriting workshop - especially if it's really about process and not just a "showcase" of original songs.


Some others I think might be interesting would be:

- "Original short shelf-life songs" (as Tom Paxton has on his website). Some of our best songs are too topical to become 'standards' but it can be a shame to lose them just for that. *g*

- Song Challenge! - e.g, as we do at Mudcat, where people get a theme or news item and then write a song about it.   If the story/theme were given, say, on Friday night and the workshop were on Saturday or Sunday, it could be a lot of fun to see what people came up with.

- Rap and Hip-Hop as "Folk" -- OK, I'm just kidding. (I think)

- Songs about "crossing over"/tributes to "silent voices" -- As we're getting older (some of us more obviously than others), we're also 'losing' many dear friends and wonderful folk voices (including Barry, Sandy, Utah, etc.).   Often such events inspire wonderful musical tributes and/or songs about that 'process."   I know I've written a few for such occasions. This can be a really nice 'workshop' or at least 'song sharing' session.   My preference would be for original compositions, but that's not carved in stone (on a tombstone or elsewhere).












*and why doesn't anyone ever call them singer-songwriter-guitarist or singer-songwriter-pianist, etc.?
** Severn, it's great to know that you're back in such fine (?) form again! LOL