Sherri Hamilton Sits In on Keyboard

The Hamiltons are a talented couple. Randy Hamilton has been playing bass and singing high harmony with us for a few years now. Meanwhile, we've known all along that Randy's wife, Sherri, is a gifted keyboard player and singer in her own right, and we've been after her to come and sit in with us some time. Last night she did and we rocked all evening. Our hope is to work up a few tunes to play in concert that will feature Sherri Hamilton as a guest artist on piano. Here's our starting point, a sassy little number from last night. Oh, and we had a few other friends sitting in last night. That's the great Jim Rumbaugh on harmonica and the incomparable Chuck Romine on tenor banjo.

Catch The Flood at Charleston's Taylor Books This Friday Night!

The Flood is in Charleston this Friday night at one of our all-time favorite venues, the wonderful Taylor Books on Capitol Street. Last night, in prepping for the gig, we trotted out some appropriate numbers, including what is perhaps the ultimate party tune, from 1926, "Crazy Words, Crazy Tune." Remember, if you're in Charleston Friday night, come by Taylor Books, for fun with The Flood from 7:30 to 9:30 at 226 Capitol Street.

The Flood is Honored as One of the 55 Good Things about West Virginia!

It's been an interesting week for the Family Flood. We learned on Monday when The State Journal announced its list of "55 Good Things About West Virginia" that The 1937 Flood is among those good things. We are so honored to be the first string band ever included in the newspaper's annual list of Mountain State treasures. Writer Tiffney Henson has written a lovely story about the band, and we have a link to it on our website, 1937flood.com. Meanwhile, as you'd expect, this week's regular Wednesday night rehearsal attracted a lot of friends and neighbors who wanted to drop in and celebrate with us. Joe Dobbs' joyous rendition of "Blackberry Blossom" from last night's practice beautifully sums up our mood these days.

Randy Sings Lead

The newest Floodster, Randy Hamilton, is already a hit with Flood regulars for his solid bass playing and his high vocal harmonies, but we've been looking for a song on which we could feature him on lead vocals, and we think we've found it. We've started working on a moody version of "Wayfarin' Stranger" with Randy singing the story. We're only just begun crafting the tune -- we're still hashing out our harmonies to support Randy's lead; Charlie's still looking for something to add to Michelle's wonderful wispy melodies -- but we like to use the podcast to share works in progress, and this is one. It's interesting, too, how the instrumentation is coming together. Check out the solo work by Doug and Sam and especially listen to Dave's first-rate Autoharp work, adding great accents that chime throughout the song. Stay tuned -- we'll keep you posted as this piece evolves.