Abilene

Funny how it happens. It was essentially as a warm-up tune that we started doing that old Bob Gibson/John D. Loudermilk song, "Abilene." You may remember it -- George Hamilton IV had a monster hit with it back in 1963. We never intended The Flood version of it to go anywhere, but then Michelle Walker and Randy Hamilton (uh, no relation to George... at least, not that he's told us about, anyway…) really got into the harmony vocals and suddenly the tune's started climbing up our personal weekly hit list. Don't know if "Abilene" is going to make it onto the new Flood CD, but we are expecting to add it to the list for possible recording when we go back into the studio next week, so we'll see it goes. Here's our take on the tune at last night's rehearsal. Oh, and say, if you have a thought on whether or not we should include the song on the new CD, by all means, drop us a line -- 1937flood@gmail.com.

Solid Gone

The first song Dave Peyton and I ever sang together was "Solid Gone," also known as "Cannonball Blues." It was at a New Year's Eve party in 1972 and we were trying to figure out if we knew any songs in common. Dave had learned it from old Carter Family records and I knew it as a Tom Rush number, but it was the same tune. Now, this was all very antediluvian -- before The Flood. By the following spring, Dave and I would hook up with Joe Dobbs and Roger Samples and the four of us would start The 1937 Flood. "Solid Gone" would a standard for the band for a good long while, but then it drifted away for a few decades. Only recently have we started playing it again, and we're having such a good time with it that, for all times' sake, "Solid Gone" just might find its way onto the new CD we're currently working on. Stay tuned.