Twisted Laurel

We have lots of great memories of attending folk festivals over the years, and one of the fondest is of hearing the original Red Clay Ramblers back in the mid-1970s. A few years after the band was formed, the guys drove up from North Carolina to play a festival in Greenup County, Kentucky/. We still remember sitting on the ground in the front that stage, hanging on every note. A highlight of the evening was hearing them sing "Twisted Laurel," an original composition by West Virginia native son Tommy Thompson, who was the Ramblers banjo player. It's hard to believe Tommy's been gone a dozen years now -- he passed away in 2003 -- but his beautiful tune lives on, and it is deep in the musical DNA of The Flood.