A disproportionally large segment of my working repertoire consists of Mississippi John Hurt songs in the key of C. Some of them are extremely similar to each other, using not only the same chord progressions but also many very similar little riffs and fingerpicking runs. I love playing them, have been playing them for years, and in the privacy of my own home I'll stay in that one key and one groove for long periods of time, randomly switching back and forth between songs.

In performance, I generally try to spread these songs apart, interspersing songs in other keys when I plan a set list in advance. My hope is that audiences won't so easily notice how very similar these songs are to each other if they don't hear them in succession, and will feel satisfied that they've heard a variety of different numbers.

However, when it "feels right" ~ when I'm playing one of these selections and sense that everyone is happy enough to stay the current course ~ I'll string a couple of them together as a medley, just to stretch things out and create a longer number. For example, there's the "Ain't Medley": "Ain't No Tellin'" and "Ain't Nobody's Business."

I'll do this only when I sense a certain level of comfort in the audience, and so when I do it, I too feel comfortable and confident, play in much the same manner as when entertaining no one but myself at home, and this good feeling generally gets across to the audience.