This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

The Flood started doing this song about 1979, right after Roger Samples and Charlie Bowen learned it from a beloved album, Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy, released in 1976.


Rog always said he thought the melody was buried in the very genes of Irish people, adding, “Every time we do that song, I feel like the ghosts of my ancestors come into the room!”

"Salley Gardens"has been in The Flood’s repertoire ever since, even tucked away among the tunes the band recorded on its first album two decades ago.

This current version — with solos by Dan Cox and Sam St. Clair — was recorded in a recent jam session just to be our gift today. Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

 When the brilliant Dan Cox joined The Flood Fold last year, one of the first tunes he and his buddy, veteran Floodster Randy Hamilton, brought to the mix was “Windy and Warm.” 

 

While most of this take is all about Danny’s pitch-perfect picking, it also features Randy and Dan vocalizing at one point, a moment that you can hear being happily applauded by Charlie.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

The Flood has been doing versions of this great old song from its earliest days nearly a half century ago. Literally. It was the first song that the late Dave Peyton and Charlie Bowen tried at a New Year’s Eve party in 1973 where the band was born. 

 
The tune has come back in every iteration of The Flood and it has never sounded better than in this latest version, with Danny Cox and Sam St. Clair double-dipping on the solos and Randy Hamilton singing all that rock-solid harmony. Here’s “Solid Gone.”

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

 We're excited to be coming back to Sal's Speakeasy in Ashland this Friday night. 

 
And, best of all, The Chick Singer is back! Yes, Floodster Emerita Michelle Hoge (whom the late Joe Dobbs christened "da chick singer" years ago) will be coming in from Cincinnati with her husband Rich just to sit in with her old band mates for the evening. 

It's going to be epic! We'll be playing from 6 to 9 p.m.  

Here's one of the tunes we have for the set list.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

 It all began when Charlie took his first stumbling steps — slipping and a-sliding, as it were — in learning some bottleneck technique on his new resonator guitar. Right away, it reminded him of a gospel tune from his youth, but he just couldn’t seem to get it down. 

Then Danny came along, took one listen and started just naturally channeling an old Doc Watson cum Chet Atkins vibe, laying down an absolutely rock solid foundation. 

Sam grabbed his “E” harp and found his groove, Randy jumped in with some beautiful harmony for the choruses, and suddenly “I Am a Pilgrim” landed righteously in the repertoire.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

The Flood’s take on this century-old happy, naughty good-time tune of the Roarin’ Twenties owes much to the song’s re-arousal by the string bands of the 1960s. 

Our version borrows the great Jim Kweskin jug band’s idea of blending the tunes with the Louis Armstrong standard of the same era, “Heebie Jeebies.” 

And in this track, while everybody brings great solos, we all agree that it’s Danny — our newest Floodster — who, as Sam says, “becomes one with Sister Kate.”

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

 In music, newness is often a magical ingredient, and everything about this song is new. 

It all started when Charlie brought home yet another new guitar, this time a sweet little Gretsch resonator that he’ll brought always keep in one open tuning or another Playing around with it in Open D, he landed on this old Jackson Browne tune he remember from the early 1970s that just seemed to lay so easily on the strings. 

 
Well, the song was new to Danny and Randy, but true to their Flood nature, they took to it right away, immediately finding ways to enrich it. Listen to Dan’s brilliant solos and Randy’s gorgeous harmonies on the choruses.The arrangement is still evolving, but we wanted to share it here while it still had that new song smell.