Remembering Ramblin' Boy Bob McCoy

Today's the birthday of one of our favorite people. Bob McCoy would have been 71 today, but we lost him -- gosh, could it be more than four years ago now? At last night's rehearsal, we paused for a Bob Moment, singing his favorite song. These days, we never do Tom Paxton's great "Ramblin' Boy" without thinking Bob McCoy's smile that lit up the room. Bob, here's to you, buddy.

Revisiting Peggy Day

"Peggy Day" is one of the stepchildren of Bob Dylan's great songbook. The tune's only claim to fame is that it was the B-side when Bob released "Lay, Lady, Lay" as a single in the summer of '69. Unlike a lot of Dylan lyrics, "Peggy Day" has no intriguing back story or legend that we've ever heard. Dylan probably just tossed it off as filler when he was finishing up the great "Nashville Skyline" album all those years ago. But the song has always been a favorite for The Flood, especially in recent years, as Michelle Lewis has been perfecting her wonderful vocal harmony part. Last night everybody took a turn on the tune in a particularly happy moment of the very happy rehearsal.

Remembering J.P.

The great fiddler J.P. Fraley died three years ago, but still is very much an influential part of our Appalachian world, and The Flood has always felt fortunate to have a direct connection to J.P. through Doug Chaffin. Doug played and traveled with J.P. and his wife Annadeen for decades and is a walking encyclopedia of J.P. tunes and stories. Doug played on J.P.'s 1998 twin fiddle CD with Betty Vornbrock, and at a quiet moment at last night's rehearsal, Doug took up his guitar to play this remembrance of a classic tune from that album, the beautiful "Ook-Pik Waltz."