MY FAVORITE, MOST USEFUL, MOST USED RECORDED MUSIC:
* All recordings (& books) produced by New England Dancing Masters
(Peter & Mary Alice Amidon, Andy Davis, Mary Cay Brass & many other fine musicians
including Becky Tracy, Keith Murphy, Sam & Stefan Amidon & Thomas Bartlett)
http://www.dancingmasters.com/
*Sweets of May & White Mountain Reel - recordings (& books) by Dudley Laufman
These have recently been combined into a single volume which looks quite terrific
http://laufman.org/
* Recordings by musicians local to my area (or the area of the gig) and inspiring at least
one on-mic comment about these talented musicians in the neighborhood.
* I also have used KGB's Volga Notions (because the cd jacket claims in Russian,
"Danceable but no chestnuts").
For SPECIFIC Tunes/Songs required for a specific dance:
* New England Chestnuts by Rodney & Randy Miller
two cd re-release available at Great Meadow Music
http://www.greatmeadowmusic.com/
* Lissa Schneckenburger's gorgeous new cd, Dance, is almost all chestnuts.
http://lissafiddle.com/
* Lloyd Shaw Foundation
Amazing resource, zillions of recordings & cue sheets and more. They set up a
download site for you, once you request your recordings.
http://lloydshaw.org/Catalogue/CatHome.htm
* I recently found Amazon Music Downloads very useful
-Chrissy Fowler
Belfast, ME