I've enjoyed every comment on here. I've been playing, telling stories, and just plain visiting nursing homes since the seventies. I first started in the sixties. At that time, I sang songs my mother was still singing... Casey Would Waltz With the Strawberry Blond, Shine on Harvest Moon, and Bicycle Built For Two vintage. As time passed, I moved into songs from the forties, then fifties. Now those songs are too old for some of the younger residents. When I have to sing rap. I'll know it's time to quit. :-)

Most of the songs I've written and stories I tell are not nostalgic. Many are about right now, although I throw in a little doo wop and standards. In nursing homes, showing that you care for someone is far more important than a steady diet of "oldies." Folks may be old, but they're living right now, and good stories are timeless.