Recently I was introduced to the concept of knowing many tunes but not being able to play one. That you can build up a repertoire of songs like an encyclopedia, but that doesn't mean the tunes will have depth and richness.
That it is better to know a few tunes really well than to know many tunes but not be able to really play one well.
This concept opened up a whole new world for me. With some old-time artist recordings I would get the sense they were reeling off lots of banjo tunes but the tunes seemed to have no richness & depth. Maybe this problem is more common in banjo tunes. Or maybe you can apply this thought to all kinds of folk music.

Since I realized this, I've slowed down trying to learn a whole bunch of new tunes. I am going to focus in on the tunes I currently have learned. Particularly the ones I love and see if I can bring more depth out of my music by courting each tune longer. Allowing more time for expression to unfold and life form to develop within each tune.

Just wondering if you guys had any thoughts on this.

Little Neo