Thursday, November 24, 2011

From This Week's Flood Jam Session


This week's freebie from The 1937 Flood jam session features a moment for last night's pre-Thanksgiving bash.

For many around here, Thanksgiving isn't so much about travel. Instead, we're the home that people come back to for the holiday.

On the eve of Thanksgiving 2011, we had our dear friend Jacob Scarr home from college in Colorado. And New Yorker Matt Parker was in the town visiting his grandparents. Well, we had to get these two young guitarists trading licks on an old blues, the way they have on Thanksgiving jam sessions in previous years.

Oh, and if you listen closely toward the end of the track, that's jam session newcomer Sonny Sumner with a tasteful little ride on his electric. Yes, it was a guitaroarious evening. Hear the audio.

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.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

From This Week's Flood Jam Session


This week's freebie from The 1937 Flood jam sessions features a favorite swing standard.

Bassist Randy Hamilton nailed it last night. As he was packing up at the end of the evening, he said, "Boy, there sure is a lot of energy in the room when the chick singer's here. She just radiates it!"

So true! Our Michelle Walker can't make it to the jam session every week, but when she does, the room lights up. Here's her last number of the evening -- "Sunny Side of the Street" -- and it's just as powerful as her first two hours earlier. Hear the audio.

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.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

From This Week's Flood Jam Session


This week's freebie from The 1937 Flood jam session features an old tune with a new friend!

Pittsburgh harmonica sensation Mark Keen actually grew up in our town. In fact, he and one of our jam session regulars, guitarist Randy Brown, went all through school together here back in the '70s.

Well, Mark was back home in Huntington this week. Last night Randy brought him to his first Flood jam session, and, good golly, we had a ball. Mark limbered up his harps as soon as he hit door and we didn't stop for more than two hours. Now, we understand Mark doesn't get home very often but we hoping that from now when he does, he puts The Flood on his "to-do" list! Hear the audio.

By the way, 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.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

This Week from The Flood Jam Sessions


This week's freebie from The 1937 Flood jam sessions features our revisiting a tune we started playing more than a decade ago.

Not long ago, Joe Dobbs added a fifth string to one of his fiddles which gives him a lovely new lower register to play with. Sometimes it's like having another instrument in the band, a cross between a violin and viola.

Late in the evening at a recent jam session, Joe demonstrated how this innovation can give a whole new voice to tune like "Down by the Sally Gardens," which The Flood's been playing since its first CD more than 10 years ago.

Oh, and by the way, that's our buddy Jim Rumbaugh playing that beautiful harmonica solo. Hear the audio.

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.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

From This Week's Flood Jam Session


This week's freebie from The 1937 Flood jam sessions features a great old 1930s fiddle tune.

Sometimes one tune sets the mood for the whole evening. Last night I said to Joe Dobbs, "How about a fiddle tune?" Out came "Cincinnati Rag," a great old Byrd Moore - Clarence Green piece from 1930 that we haven't really done much with in years.

Well, it got everybody grinning. And if you listen closely, that Randy Brown in the middle of things, taking a break on a borrowed guitar. It was just that kind of night. Hear the audio.

In other Flood news, we have a new video for you to check out! Last August, The Flood visited the studios of theTrackside Live, Adam Harris's newly developed live performance video shoot that captures high quality video and audio recordings of unique bands performing in a relaxed atmosphere. We spent a great evening with Adam, Bud Carroll, Michael Valentine and the rest of the guys, and some exciting things are in the works that we'll be able to tell you about in the months ahead. In the meantime, for a 4-minute YouTube teaser, CLICK HERE!.

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.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

From This Week's Flood Jam Session


This week's freebie from The 1937 Flood jam sessions features an original by a jam session first-timer.

Tom Norman has been playing in rock 'n' roll bands around here for decades, occasionally dipping into rockabilly. For instance, back in the '90s, he was on Joe Dobbs's old "Music from the Mountains" radio show on West Virginia Public Radio show.

Well, last night Tom finally made it to a Flood jam session and before the evening was out, we had him singing an original. Hear the audio.

In other Flood news, this just in -- we have a new video for you to check out! Last August, The Flood visited the studios of Trackside Live, a newly developed live performance video shoot that captures high quality video and audio recordings of bands performing in a relaxed atmosphere. We spent a great evening with Adam Harris, Bud Carroll, Michael Valentine and the rest of the Trackside team. Some exciting things are in the works that we'll be able to tell you about in the months ahead. In the meantime, to view a 4-minute YouTube teaser, CLICK HERE!

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.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

This Week from The Flood Jam Sessions


This week's freebie from The 1937 Flood jam sessions features a little known Bob Dylan tune performed by one of our favorite jam session guests.

Many of us think we know a lot of Dylan tunes. And then we think again of our good friend Rob McNurlin, who really knows a lot of Dylan tunes.

One night last summer when Rob was home from Nashville and sitting in with us, our old buddy Zoe Brewer was in the room and she said, "Hey, Rob, do that Willie McTell song!" Rob thought for a moment and then out came this beautiful, little-known song that Dylan wrote in the early 1980s and didn't release until almost a decade later. Rob's rendition of "Blind Willie McTell" was the hit of the evening. Hear the audio.

By the way, if you'd like see video of Rob doing this and other songs at the Flood jam sessions, CLICK HERE!

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.