This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

This week's freebie features a special little dance number.

Well, we almost didn't have a quorum last night. Doug Chaffin, Randy Hamilton and I were only ones on hand and we were about ready to call the whole thing off when suddenly Chuck Romine showed up and saved the evening.

Here's a tune that features Chuck and his tenor banjo, which on a good night can just be a party unto itself. Click here to hear the tune.

Tunes from the rehearsal sessions make up our weekly Flood podcasts. You can subscribe for free and get the music automatically delivered to your computer most Thursdays. For details on that, click here.

This Week's Freebie form The 1937 Flood

This week's freebie features "House of the Rising Sun" (with an accent on the "sun.")

Our fever -- cabin fever, that is -- finally broke last night. Taking advantage of what we fear is an all-too-temporary thaw in this relentless winter, a quorum of Floodsters came together last night for a joyous little reunion.

A few hours together was just the antidote we needed for the wintertime blahs, and we celebrated by trying out some new songs and revisiting some old ones we've long neglected.

Here's Michael Lewis trying on a classic folk song that's older than all of us.Click here to hear the tunes.

Tunes from the rehearsal sessions make up our weekly Flood podcasts. You can subscribe for free and get the music automatically delivered to your computer most Thursdays. For details on that, click here.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

This week's freebie also comes with a request for how you can help us at future gigs.

It's way too cold and snowy 'round here to ask anyone to come out, even for music, so we canceled last night's rehearsal. Digging back through recent sessions, though, we've found a track that might warm you up bit.

We love this old jug band tune, but we've had some incidents with it too. For instance, at a gig up in Wood County a few years ago, Charlie kicked the song off in G, which is, well, a few notches higher than we usually do it, and we damn-near hurt ourselves.

If we ever start playing this song in your presence, kindly help us remember it should be in D, as it is on this track. Click here to hear the tunes.

Tunes from the rehearsal sessions make up our weekly Flood podcasts. You can subscribe for free and get the music automatically delivered to your computer most Thursdays. For details on that, click here.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

This week's freebie features a couple of tunes with an old friend.

Floodster Emeritus Chuck Romine came in from the cold last night and sat in with us playing the newest addition to his musical family:

It's a sweet and mellow little Martin tenor guitar that was just right for the folky tunes that were on our minds on that winter's evening. Listen to Chuck's solos on this one, "Abilene."

Also before he left for the night, Chuck favored us with song he'd just learned, a George Burns' classic called "Old Bones." The band had never played the song before, so we poked along behind him until by the end we'd found a bit of a groove. It was a nice memory. Thanks, Chuck. Click here to hear the tunes.

 Tunes from the rehearsal sessions make up our weekly Flood podcasts. You can subscribe for free and get the music automatically delivered to your computer most Thursdays. For details on that, click here.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

This week's freebie features a couple of tunes celebrating a day ... that we actually didn't really know was comin' up….

Okay, so who did knew that yesterday's anniversary of the 1937 flood (the natural disaster, not the band) would fall on National Kazoo Day? Well, hell, who knew there was a National Kazoo Day?

Carter Taylor Seaton, that's who, a woman whose great sense and perception are actually perhaps illustrated by many better examples than this one. Nonetheless, this is the one she and her husband Richard brought to us at last night's rehearsal session.

And when Carter pointed out this momentous intersection of events, we had to pause to reflect and then to offer up a couple of tunes to further feature The Flood's pre-eminent kazoo guru, Mister David Peyton. Click here to hear the tunes.

Tunes from the rehearsal sessions make up our weekly Flood podcasts. You can subscribe for free and get the music automatically delivered to your computer most Thursdays. For details on that, click here.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

This week's freebie features a special memory of a dear friend, Nancy McClellan, whom we lost 15 months ago.

We start this podcast with Joe Dobbs playing a tune called "Blackberry Blossom," one of Nancy's all-time favorites.

Of course, Nancy was much on our minds last night because her birthday was this week -- she would have been 82 last Monday. She was a life-long lover of a music, especially fiddle tunes. She couldn't teach us how to play -- Nancy didn't play an instrument -- but she surely did teach us how to listen! We have another tune she always asked Joe to play, the beautiful ballad, "Ash Grove."

But Nancy was never stuck in the past. She was always eager to hear new tunes. We can still remember the night she first heard the lovely Irish melody, "South Wind," just two years ago on a cold night like last night. Grinning, her eyes sparkling, she said, "Play that again, Joe, would you?" So it's fitting we wrap up the tribute with one more for you, Nancy. We miss you, love. Click here to hear the tunes.

Tunes from the rehearsal sessions make up our weekly Flood podcasts. You can subscribe for free and get the music automatically delivered to your computer most Thursdays. For details on that, click here.

This Week's Freebie from The 1937 Flood

This week's freebie features a belated New Year's greeting from the boys in the band.

Because of the holidays and then the general wintertime yuckiness, we hadn't seen each other for a few weeks, so last night's rehearsal was a bit of a celebration.


And when The Flood celebrates, we usually default to some silly, upbeat blues tune. For instance, we kicked off the whole evening by reaching back to a song we recorded on our second CD more than a dozen years ago.

Our hero, the great guitarist David Bromberg, put this tune together back in the 1970s as a tribute to his heroes. For instance, its key line -- "when I ask for a water, she brings me gasoline" -- is a shout-out to the blues legend Howlin' Wolf. Click here to hear the tune.

Tunes from the rehearsal sessions make up our weekly Flood podcasts. You can subscribe for free and get the music automatically delivered to your computer most Thursdays. For details on that, click here.