This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

 Roger Samples and Charlie Bowen worked out our arrangement of this old tune about 50 years ago. We sang and played it at many parties and jam sessions, but then it remained retired for the next three or four decades. 

 
That is until one night this summer when the tune popped into Charlie’s mind during a weekly rehearsal. Right away, Danny Cox, Randy Hamilton and Sam St. Clair jumped in and gave new life to an old number.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

 When we roll into Sal’s Speakeasy tomorrow night for our monthly gig, we’ll be bringing with us a tune that has been rocking audiences for more than eight decades. And that, brothers and sisters, is the definition of a hit! 

 
It’s a Duke Ellington composition that was given a whole new lease on life through some evocative lyrics by the great Bob Russell.

So, if you find yourself currently not getting around much anymore, we do have a solution. Come on down this Saturday night to Sal’s Speakeasy, 1624 Carter Avenue in beautiful downtown Ashland, Ky. The Flood’s on stage from 6 to 9.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

 “Bright Star” — the musical in which we’ve been honored to be perform as the house band this summer — wraps up this weekend, and we’ll be performing the last of our nightly pre-shows starting this evening. 

For our little pre-show sets, we’ve sought out old folk songs that complement the play’s new original music. Here’s the song we like to end our set with, a rollicking, silly number about a ramblin’ rascal named Buster. 

We learned it from a 1920s recording by the great Charlie Poole, but the song actually dates back the late 19th Century. Here’s “Didn’t He Ramble?”

Remember, the last three performances of “Bright Star” are tonight, Saturday and Sunday nights at Alchemy Theater, 68 Holley Avenue in the beautiful hills of Huntington, WV. For details, visit the theater’s website at www.alchemytheatretroupe.org.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

We in The Flood are honored and thrilled to be invited by Mike Murdock and Nora Ankrom to be part of their brilliant Alchemy Theater production of the new musical, “Bright Star.” 

This evening is opening night, where we join the extraordinary Mark Smith and John Kinley in the show’s house band. In addition, Mike and Nora have asked The Flood to do a few songs in a pre-show at each performance. 

Now, since trains play such an important part in the “Bright Star” story, we’ll certainly be including this one, perhaps the greatest train song of all times.