Bringing out the music man (or woman) in you...

I am the music man at a wedding I'm attending on Saturday. I've been given the task of coming up with two playlists for the reception. One is before dinner, roughly two hours, and should be a little more easy listening. One is after dinner and can be more upbeat (2+ hours)

Before dinner I have some ideas...
Wilco
maybe some Johnny Cash
Bob Marley - Acoustic Medley
trying to stay away from Jam Bands (I know they don't like it)
bluegrass can be ok

After dinner I'm going to use many of the same artists, but choose slightly more upbeat...

I NEED SUGGESTIONS...

specific songs, ideas, artists...etc...

Making a playlist for something like that tends to be a no-win situation. I hired a DJ when I got married, and told him what we did/didn't want. It wasn't an hour into the reception and someone (on her side...go figure !) was complaining that they wanted to hear something that I had banned.
Even now, my current SWMBO is a lot more open-minded about music, but when we have a party or cook-out, I put a playlist together, and someone is whining about what I have or don't have on it.

Your best bet is find out what THEY like, and run with that.


BTW, just a bit curious...what is out there of Marley playing acoustic, other than Redemption Song ?

My suggestion is to have as much as possible in case someone asked for it. If the people involved don't want a certain song, but it gets requested, I'd play it. The guests are the important ones IMO. (As long as it's not inappropriate).

Eric Clapton has some nice mellow music and a few upbeats that are popular.
Air Supply has many great love songs to choose from.

Iron Horse plays some Bluegrass covers of Metallica, and now Van Halen!! (I actually have the Metallica one and love it.)
Of course you'll want the staples, like Takin Care of Business, Oh Yeah (Yello), etc.




Just kidding about the Air Supply...

For my wife and my reception, I did the playlist. For the first hour or so, we went with a band called Vitamin String Quartet. Look them up in itunes. They are a string band that has covered over 4000 popular artists from the 50s through today. You can go through and pick out any songs that you want. On the surface, it sounds like a very classy string band, but then you start to hear the actual songs that are being played.

"Oooh, this is some nice music. Wait. Is that 'Crazy Train'?!?"

Definitely check it out.

For the remainder of the reception, I just made aplaylist of music going through the decades starting in the fifities and progressing up to today.

Good luck to you. You won't please everyone. Just make sure that the bride and groom are happy. It's all that really matters.