This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

This week we feature a tune Michelle and Charlie are trying out. See what you think.

You don’t know how much you miss something until it’s gone. Think about how much we communicate with each other with just a wink and a smile. That’s certainly true in the band; when we’re bopping along on a tune, the facial expressions we exchange often say more than the words themselves. But of course, in these times of COVID-19, we’re suddenly handicapped. Oh, we’re still grinning. It’s just that the masks we’re now wearing for each other’s protection are hiding our smiles.

But leave to Michelle Lewis to come up with a solution. If you can’t show a smile, you can at least sing about one, as she does in this tune.

Oh, and here’s an interesting thing about this song. The great comic genius Charlie Chaplin wrote the music for this piece to be part of the soundtrack for his 1936 film classic, “Modern Times.” The lyrics and title were added nearly 20 years later by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons, based on lines and themes from the movie.

And, finally, a word about this particular performance. In an abundance of caution, we’re still not getting the entire band together for rehearsals right now, but earlier this week, Michelle dropped by so she and Charlie could sit on the porch try this song out, just the two of them.

We’re still deciding whether to keep it in The Flood repertoire when the whole band finally gets back together. Let us know what you think! Your thoughts will make us … well, smile. Click to hear the tune.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

This week we feature a tune that we learned almost 50 years ago.

It seems odd that a tune we’ve been playing for nearly a half century now had never made it onto one of The Flood’s commercial CDs. But we’ll finally rectify that situation when our latest album — called “Speechless: The Instrumentals” — is released in the next few weeks.

The song in question is “Star of the County Down,” a lovely Irish melody that the late Joe Dobbs introduced us to at those weekend-long music parties in the 1970s, the wild, wonderful hippy bashes at which The Flood was busy being born. Back then, Joe taught the tune to Roger Samples, and Rog taught it to Dave Peyton and Charlie.

Joe’s song has been learned and re-learned by new generations of Floodsters over the decades since then. In this track from a rehearsal back in late January, you can hear that tradition continuing. As we start the song, our newest bandmate, Paul Callicoat, is listening; then as we come toward the end, Paul’s got it and in comes his beautiful bass to join us for the final chorus. Here’s 2020 version of “Star of the County Down.” Click to hear the tune.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

This week we feature an instrumental by the newest arrival in our circle, 19-year-old saxophonist Vanessa Coffman..

Hearing her first dozen notes, you know that Vanessa is playing her favorite song. Listen to the next couple dozen notes and you know she has all the other players in the room falling in love with it too.

The time is a deep, dark February night — a few days before Valentine’s Day, actually. The place: The Flood’s rehearsal room at the Bowen house. The tune: “Georgia on My Mind.”

Now, sit back, give us five minutes and listen to this little musical love story unfold. Click to hear the tune.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

This week we give more respect to a tune we’ve been using and abusing for many years.

“Moonglow” is a very forgiving song. In the many years we’ve been doing this great old 1930s jazz standard that Benny Goodman and Joe Venuti made famous, we’ve not always handled it gently — we’ve played it too fast, we’ve played it too slow, like a heavy-handed blues — and yet, class act that it is, the song has always given us something back.

But it was only when Michelle Lewis took over the vocals that we truly began to appreciate the beautiful of this classic Eddie DeLange-Will Hudson composition. It’s in Michelle’s able hands that the tune unfolds like a favorite scene from a good novel.

And because the song is so richly shaded, every time a new player comes into our room, “Moonglow” reveals something else about itself. For instance, on this particular take, listen to how the tune takes a light, almost spring-like turn as soon as Veezy Coffman and her tenor sax drop in with a couple of sweet choruses in last couple of minutes of recording.

Here then, from a rehearsal back in February, is our 2020 rendition of “Moonglow.” Click to hear the tune.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

This week we have a little behind-the-scenes moment at a February rehearsal session.

We’ve been playing around with Fats Waller’s “Honeysuckle Rose” for more than a decade now and, it’s funny, but just when we think we’ve got it nailed down, the band’s membership changes and we have to start all over.

Here’s a fun moment from a Flood rehearsal back in February. You’ll hear the track start out with Charlie talking to our new bass player, Paul Callicoat, about how we approach the song.

Then as we launch into it, you’ll hear Doug say he can’t remember his part, and Charlie assuring him he’ll think of something. And of course, he does.

Things start really rocking when Michelle comes in with her high, cool vocal lead. Meanwhile, Vanessa Coffman has been taking all this in, so when we call for a little saxophone about midway through the tune, Veezy’s ready with a couple tasty choruses.

Oh, be sure to hang around for Doug’s comment at the end. Hey, it’s all in an evening’s work/fun in The Flood house. Click to hear the tune.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

This week we have a little lesson in listening.

Musicians have always understood Brother Aristotle’s comment that the whole is greater than the sum of its part. After all, that’s what musicians always try to do when they sit down in a circle to play: to make something bigger than all of them put together. And the secret to the magic in music is a simple one: Just listen to each other. Here’s an example from a recent Flood rehearsal.

Listen to how right from the start, Paul Callicoat’s bass is putting down a heartbeat-like rhythm that beautifully reflects the mood of the lyrics.

hen midway through, listen to how Veezy Coffman’s sax solo builds on the simple, solemn mood that Sam St. Clair outlines with his harmonica two choruses earlier.

Oh, and then toward the end of the tune, hear how for his mandolin solo, Paul Martin beautifully continues the lines that Doug Chaffin has been laying down in the fills he’s playing on his guitar between the lines of the vocals. Yes, listen closely and you’ll hear there’s much more to this story than just the lyrics Charlie and Michelle are singing. Click to hear the tune.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

This week we mourn the death of John Prime..

“Social distancing” doesn’t come naturally to most musicians. We’re a hugging, humming, harmonizing kind of people who generally don’t suffer solitude gladly.

But during this awful Coronavirus pandemic, we are behaving ourselves — staying at home, washing our hands, not touching our faces. It’s now been a month since the Family Flood has been together in the same room, and we miss each other terribly. But our family, like yours, will get through this thing.

Meanwhile, for these weekly podcasts, we continue to rely on recordings from months ago, and some of them suddenly seem especially poignant.

For instance, back in mid-winter, when Michelle and guys did this tune at a rehearsal, we had no idea how in just a few weeks it would have us longing for the simple pleasure of just being back together. Click to hear the tune.