Wade in the Water, Version 2018

Whenever a heat wave finally breaks with a massive rain storm, like that downpour flooded Huntington streets last week, you can usually find us Floodsters humming one of our innumerable water songs, like the one bobbed to the surface of our collective consciousness at last night’s rehearsal. Here’s our 2018 version of “Wade in the Water.”

Rocking Chair, 2018

About two decades ago, the very first cut on our very first commercial CD was our take on a little Bob Gibson tune that we got from a fairly obscure LP in the 1970s. Well, half the folks who played on that debut CD are not longer with us, and for many years, the song drifted out of our collective memory. Until this summer, when it came drifting back. Lately, we’ve had fun introducing it to the new generation of Floodsters. Here’s the 2018 version of “Rocking Chair.”

Can You Run?

We’ve started to think about the tunes we want on our next CD, and we’re asking the regulars who attend at our weekly rehearsals to help us choose. On everybody’s list — ours and those of our friends — is this song, which Randy and Paul brought to us last year. Here’s our latest rendition, recorded at last night’s rehearsal. That’s Randy singing the lead with beautiful harmony by Paul and Michelle. By the way, this song will always have a special meaning to us because the first time we performed it publicly was at Taylor Books in Charleston a year ago this week — Aug. 12, 2017 — the evening of the day we had spent watching the horrendous images of the neo-Nazi rioting in Charlottesville, Virginia. In that context, these poignant lyrics took on an even greater resonance. Here’s the Chris Stapleton composition, “Can You Run?”

Suffer to Sing the Blues

Sometimes tunes get away from us for a while. Eight or nine years ago, we regularly played a funny little David Bromberg composition called, “Suffer to Sing the Blues,” one that our friend Norman Davis often requested. Then for some reason, we got distracted by other bright lights and different shiny objects, and the Bromberg tune just sort of floated out of the Flood repertoire. But lately, for some reason, the it’s come drifting back to us. And it’s a funny kind of reunion, because some of the newer members of the band, like Paul and Randy, had never heard it. Here’s a rendition of the song from a few weeks ago. Norman couldn’t make the gathering that evening, but the tune had us singing his praises in absentia. Norman, this one’s for you, buddy!