Down By the Willow Garden

Here's a track that really captures the informal nature of Wednesday nights around here. For a warmup, we kick off a tune we don't play very often. In fact, you can hear Charlie Bowen and Dave Peyton discussing chords during Doug Chaffin's solo on the mandolin. You can also hear us greeting Joe Dobbs as he arrives. Joe quickly unpacks his fiddle and takes his solo while still standing behind Charlie in the doorway. It was some of Joe's prettiest playing of the night!

Remembrance of Things Past

In the room where we rehearse each week is a bookcase where we've begun to display photos of some of the dear friends who have passed away over the years. Looking into their smiling faces as we play is a real joy, especially in those relatively rare quiet moments -- like this beautiful impromptu duet by Doug Chaffin and Joe Dobbs on a haunting rendition of a Irish melody, "Star of the County Down." You know, on this Memorial Day weekend, it's comforting to thinking about how old friends live on in our memories.

Chuck Brings a New Toy

We invited former Floodster Chuck Romine to sit in with us at a gig this week, knowing his ever-lively tenor banjo would really please the crowd. But at the rehearsal the night before the job, Chuck showed up not with his banjo, but with a new prize: a sweet Martin tenor guitar he had just bought. You can hear him with it on two solos on this take of a David Peyton classic that's also featured on our new CD, a tune he learned from Aunt Jenny Wilson called, "Georgie Buck." Kick it off, Dave.