This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

This week's freebie features another preview of a work in progress.

Right now, we're preparing for a show this Friday night at Woodlands Retirement Community up the hill from us here in our hometown of Huntington, West Virginia, and we've been thinking about the music that folks there might like. At last night's rehearsal, Michelle Walker suggested "Sentimental Journey," a tune that Joe Dobbs has been doing in his solo performances for years.

Now, of course, the spirit of this weekly podcast is to share The Flood's not-ready-for-primetime moments -- that is, songs still in development -- and here's a prime example. This is literally the first time the band as a whole has tried this tune and obviously we have some … uh, opportunities. The harmonies need tightening, we need to work out better cues for the solos and smooth out the accompaniment.

But for now, I love the enthusiasm everyone's bringing to the song. And it may be fun in a year or so to look back and see how the tune has evolved and mellowed with practice. But first, a voyage of discovery. All aboard! Click here to hear the tune!

And speaking of new audio… The Flood had a fun time on a pleasant Wednesday last May when The Red Barn Radio Show invited us to Lexington, Ky., for an evening. Producer/director Ed Commons has sent us a disc of the show and we're happy to share it with our extended Family Flood. Click here to hear the entire show!

By the way, if you haven't checked out our Facebook page, we hope you will. And we've made it easy for you. Just click here! And be sure to click the "Like" button at the top of the Facebook so you'll be kept up to date on all the Flood doin's.

 Finally, remember that the tunes from the jam sessions make up our weekly Flood podcasts. You can subscribe for free and get the music automatically delivered to your computer each Thursday. For details on that, click here.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

This week's freebie features a rather rapid visit to an old standard.

The drink of choice at The Flood's weekly rehearsals is Community Coffee from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. But there is a downside. After a few cups of this strong, rich, dark brew, the tunes tend to get a bit livelier.

There's a standing joke that after Charlie's had a coupla mugs of joe, he starts kicking the tunes off too fast. Here's a case in point. We don't usually do "Blue Moon" at such a lively clip as this. But, hey, some of us kinda like it like this -- it's got a nice kick, though we're not sure you'd wanna dance to it. See what you think. Click here to hear the tune!

And speaking of audio… As we've mentioned earlier, The Flood had a fun time on a pleasant Wednesday last May when The Red Barn Radio Show invited us to Lexington, Ky., for an evening. Recently, producer/director Ed Commons sent us a disc of the show and we're happy to share with our extended Family Flood. Click here to hear the entire show!

By the way, if you haven't checked out our Facebook page, we hope you will. And we've made it easy for you. Just click here! And be sure to click the "Like" button at the top of the Facebook so you'll be kept up to date on all the Flood doin's.

Finally, remember that the tunes from the jam sessions make up our weekly Flood podcasts. You can subscribe for free and get the music automatically delivered to your computer each Thursday. For details on that, click here.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

In this week's freebie from The 1937 Flood, we have the first take on a tune we expect to be working on in the months ago.

During a break at a gig last summer, our good friend Wendell Dobbs dropped by the bandstand and said, "Hey, I know a great song for The Chick Singer -- 'A Taste of Honey.'" As soon as he said that, our eyes lit up. Yes indeed. It's a wonderful ballad that's been recorded by everyone from Sarah Vaughan to the early Beatles.

Our Michelle Walker had never really tried the song before, but she was game to give a go and last night, at one of The Flood's occasional vocal-only rehearsals, we tested the waters. As you'll hear in this track, Randy and I are still figuring out some harmony parts, but Michelle is already nailing the lead.

In the months ahead, this podcast may be revisiting the tune as we introduce it to the rest of band, but for now, here it is: "A Taste of Honey, Take 1." Click here to hear the tune!

And speaking of new audio… The Flood had a fun time on a pleasant Wednesday last May when The Red Barn Radio Show invited us to Lexington, Ky., for an evening. Recently, producer/director Ed Commons sent us a disc of the show and we're happy to share with our extended Family Flood. Click here to hear the entire show!

By the way, if you haven't checked out our Facebook page, we hope you will. And we've made it easy for you. Just click here! And be sure to click the "Like" button at the top of the Facebook so you'll be kept up to date on all the Flood doin's.

 Finally, remember that the tunes from the jam sessions make up our weekly Flood podcasts. You can subscribe for free and get the music automatically delivered to your computer each Thursday. For details on that, click here.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

For this week's freebie from The 1937 Flood, we're searching through old gold…

These days the weekly rehearsals are largely about figuring out what tunes we'd like to put on the next Flood CD, which we hope to start working on later this year. That means checking out new songs, but also revisiting pieces we used to play a lot but some reason have let slip away.

A case in point is Dave Franklin's classic fiddle tune, "Cincinnati Rag." It was a regular of ours at gigs 10 years ago or so, but it never ended up on a CD. At last night's practice, Joe Dobbs brought it out again. This resulted in an obvious teaching moment -- you can hear us discussing the chords as Joe lays down the melody -- but by the end, everyone was in agreement: this needs to be back on the regular set list. Click here to hear the tune!

And speaking of new audio… The Flood had a fun time on a pleasant Wednesday last May when The Red Barn Radio Show invited us to Lexington, Ky., for an evening. Recently, producer/director Ed Commons sent us a disc of the show and we're happy to share with our extended Family Flood. Click here to hear the entire show!

By the way, if you haven't checked out our Facebook page, we hope you will. And we've made it easy for you. Just click here! And be sure to click the "Like" button at the top of the Facebook so you'll be kept up to date on all the Flood doin's.

Finally, remember that the tunes from the jam sessions make up our weekly Flood podcasts. You can subscribe for free and get the music automatically delivered to your computer each Thursday. For details on that, click here.

Dave Ball Fundraiser Will be a Foodie Fest!

As many of you know, former Floodster Dave Ball is running this fall for one of the two at-large seats on Huntington City Council, and there's a cool fundraiser coming up Wednesday, Sept. 12. Mark your calendars! Let's let Dave tell you about it -- here's his email on the subject:

To all my "foodie" friends: Many of you know that our son Jeff (Cheffry) is a classically trained chef. He worked 4 seasons at The Colony Hotel on Palm Beach and 3 seasons with the Breakers of Palm Beach. He is now co-executive chef at Shakespeare and Co, USA in Lexington.

Jeff will be coming to Huntington to do a campaign fundraiser for my City Council Campaign and that is as much politics as you will hear about this event. He is planning six courses and will be pairing wines with the courses. This will be an event not to miss. The cost will be $75 per person and that covers the meal, wines and donation. We plan to sell only 40 tickets and at this point there are only 18 left. The event will be held at HIMG at the 29th St interchange. 

For more info, IM, message or give us a call. Hope to see ya there, it will be the best meal of the election season!  The event will be Sept 12th @6:30 pm.  

Thanks.............DAVE BALL 4 CITY HALL

---

Meanwhile, remember you can check out Dave's website at daveball4cityhall.com.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

For this week's freebie from The 1937 Flood, we switched things up a bit...

The Flood has a lot more options in instrumentation these days. Doug Chaffin can play mandolin and guitar, even fiddle, not to mention his superb work on the upright bass. And our newest Floodster, Randy Hamilton, usually plays bass nowadays, but also is an excellent lead guitarist.

Last night, we decided to mix things up -- we asked Doug to bring his bass and Randy to bring his six-string. The results were memorable -- but hey, judge for yourself. Here Michelle Walker leads us through Gershwin's "Summertime." Click here to hear the tune!

And speaking of new audio… The Flood had a fun time on a pleasant Wednesday last May when The Red Barn Radio Show invited us to Lexington, Ky., for an evening. Recently, producer/director Ed Commons sent us a disc of the show and we're happy to share with our extended Family Flood. Click here to hear the entire show!

By the way, if you haven't checked out our Facebook page, we hope you will. And we've made it easy for you. Just click here! And be sure to click the "Like" button at the top of the Facebook so you'll be kept up to date on all the Flood doin's.

Finally, remember that the tunes from the jam sessions make up our weekly Flood podcasts. You can subscribe for free and get the music automatically delivered to your computer each Thursday. For details on that, click here.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

To full appreciate this week's freebie from The 1937 Flood, you need to know the background on our strange birthday habits...

It all started at a gig a few years back when a Flood fan said, "Hey, my brother's in the front row and it's his birthday -- would y'all play 'Happy Birthday' for him?'" We had to admit we didn't know "Happy Birthday." Well, that's back exactly true -- we recognize it when we hear it; we just never learned to play it.

Then the fellow said, "So, what do you play for birthdays?" Right there on stage, we huddled a minute and then said, "Well, how about that old jug band tune, 'You Can't Get That Stuff No More"? That got a laugh, we played the song and a new Flood tradition was born. From then on, The Flood's marked birthdays with that Tampa Red tune.

Well, last night, one of our own celebrated a birthday -- Flood co-founder fiddler Joe Dobbs turned 78 -- and we had him playing on his own birthday serenade. Click here to hear the tune!

And speaking of new audio… The Flood had a fun time on a pleasant Wednesday last May when The Red Barn Radio Show invited us to Lexington, Ky., for an evening. Recently, producer/director Ed Commons sent us a disc of the show and we're happy to share with our extended Family Flood. Click here to hear the entire show!

By the way, if you haven't checked out our Facebook page, we hope you will. And we've made it easy for you. Just click here! And be sure to click the "Like" button at the top of the Facebook so you'll be kept up to date on all the Flood doin's.

 Finally, remember that the tunes from the jam sessions make up our weekly Flood podcasts. You can subscribe for free and get the music automatically delivered to your computer each Thursday. For details on that, click here.