Great idea, Bud, and as you say, it works for you.
I work a little differently in that for all songs that I perform,I pre-record the chord and control track, so there is no room for error.This means that I can sing,smile and crack jokes without having to press a button.
I do put a lot of time into selecting the right voices when pre-recording, also the technicord and effects, so that the backing is always the best I can do and never varies. this is why I need a library of sounds so that I can find the right one without fiddling with a great pile of disks.
I don't use step record or sound edit,and this pretty well works for me, but your idea is practical for me too.Cheers.Jean.