How about we compile a list of the top twenty fiddle tunes one should learn on guitar and mandolin in order to be a better contributor at a bg jam? I need some direction from you more experienced pickers. Prefeered key(s) and tab sources would be good too.

In no particular order:

Salt Creek (A)
Bill Cheatham (A)
Gold Rush (A)
Blackberry Blossom (G)
Arkansas Traveler (D and A)
Red Haired Boy (A)
Lonesome Fiddle Blues (Dm)
Whiskey Before Breakfast (D)
St. Anne's Reel (D)
Old Joe Clark (A)
Temperance Reel (G)
Billy in the Low Ground (C)
Big Mon (A)
(this is the one we jammed on on the mandolins)
Ragtime Annie (D)
Beaumont Rag (D, maybe F)

That oughta get you started. A good place to start is Steve Kaufman's place:
BG Guitar Solos that Every Parking Lot Picker Should Know

Bryan Kimsey
http://www.bryankimsey.com

I just wanted to add that there is some free tab over at the flatpick site.

www.flatpick.com


There is also several books out there about fiddle tunes for guitar. I think one of them is Adam Grainger's and another I have at home called "Fiddle tunes for guitar" by Oak Press I believe. There's also some instruction books from Homespun Press ( I believe one is by Russ Barenberg the other by Dan Crary)

www.homespuntapes.com


There's even a lesson over at Acoustic Guitar called "Flatpicking Fiddle Tunes" www.acousticguitar.com


What I would like to know is if anyone out there could recommend some good recordings of the tunes listed by Bryan. I would really like to hear them played in context with other instruments. Any recommendations would be helpful.

They've got tab with midi over at The Bluegrass Guitar page. Not exactly in context with other instruments, but it will at least give you a sense of the melody.

To hear a guitar playing fiddle tunes in context:

Dan Crary- Bluegrass Guitar
Tony Rice- Manzanita

and if you only get 1, get this sampler:
Blue Ribbon Guitar EasyDisc 7006 (Rounder)

check Amazon.com and
County Sales

Flatpicking Guitar Mag

The sampler has
Mark O'Connor- Blackberry Blossom
David Grier- Tarnation
Blake, Rice, Watson- Salt Creek
Ronnie McCoury- Shake Your Hips
Russ Barenberg- Cooley's Reel
Scott Nygaard- Bury Me Beneath the Willow
Dan Crary- Huckleberry Hornpipe
Wyatt Rice- Back Up and Push
Doc and Merle- Fisher's/Devil's Dream
Tony Rice- Big Mon
Norman Blake- Fiddler's Dram/Whiskey Before B.
Country Cooking- This Old, Old House

All pretty representative of the players and good tune selection, except for Ronnie McCoury who's a mandolin player, and Country Cooking, an old band with Barenberg on guitar. O'Connor's selection was recorded when he was 16.

Bryan Kimsey
http://www.bryankimsey.com

do you guys still jam? if so, is it open to the public? i am learning fiddle after playing violin for many years, and would love to sit in! thanks!

I'll add a couple of my favorites

Big Sciota (see Russ Barenberg, Scott Nygaard)
Beaumont Rag - Jeff White plays a great break on an old Allison Krause cd in F
Wheel Hoss - (Wyatt Rice plays a nice guitar version)