Make Me a Pallet On Your Floor

Here’s a song with roots that are long and deep, going back well over a hundred years. The first printed reference to it was in 1911, when it was reported to be a favorite of New Orleans jazzmen in the legendary Buddy Bolden Band. Hundreds — maybe thousands — of renditions of it have been played over the past century, with versions in blues, folk, bluegrass and jazz. Louis Armstrong's 1954 recording of “Atlanta Blues" tips its hat to the song because the great composer W.C. Handy borrows a bit of it for his lyrics in the chorus. Our version comes from a 1961 Folkways recording by the late great bluesmen Rolf Cahn and Eric Von Schmidt. Here is “Make Me a Pallet On Your Floor.”

Remembering Santa Joe. Merry Christmas from Your Friends in The Flood

Welcome to the special Christmas Eve edition of The 1937 Flood podcast. You know, hardly a day goes by that we don’t think about our old friend and bandmate Joe Dobbs, who died a little over three years ago. But we especially miss Joe at this time of year. Not only did our old fiddler love the Christmas season, as you can no doubt hear in this happy rendering of “Winter Wonderland” from a jam session almost a decade ago, but because of his white beard and the twinkle in his eye, Joe was perceived by many kids from 1 to 92 to be the Jolly Ol’ Elf himself. And that led to interesting stories, often told between the tunes at the rehearsals. As a little Christmas treat from our dusty, musty archives, here’s a minute’s worth of Santa Joe stories, starting with Sam telling of a boast his young son James once made and ending with Joe’s tale of encountering a dissatisfied customer in Cajun country. Merry Christmas from your friends in The Flood!

The Dutchman

Here’s a song that has been with us since the earliest days of The Flood. The band was just coming together about the time that the late, great Steve Goodman released his version of it in 1972. Roger Samples, falling deeply in love with that album, learned the song and taught it to the rest of us. For a decade or so, Rog sang it to our harmonies, then when he moved away, Charlie took over the lead vocals. Since then, in every configuration of the band, this song has been played regularly, often at the end of an especially sweet session, like the one last night's. Here’s the latest version, from last night’s rehearsal, with Randy’s harmonies and tasty solos by Doug, Paul and Sam. This is Michael Peter Smith’s “The Dutchman.”

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

We’ll be sharing a bit of Christmas cheer this weekend at the final Route 60 Saturday Night show of the season. For our usual house band duties for the evening, we’re adding several seasonal tunes to the mix, like this classic that over the past 75 years has been among the most performed Christmas songs of all times. Remember, it’s Route 60 Saturday Night, THIS Saturday night, Dec. 15, at Route 60 Music Co., 60 Peyton Street, in Barboursville. Our featured performers this month are Debbie Grimm and Alan Brown. And we’ll have a special treat: songwriters Rob McNurlin and Paul Callicoat will be on hand to share a couple of original tunes. It’s going to a memorable evening. Admission is $5 and this month all proceeds go to help the good work of Big Brothers/Big Sisters. The fun starts at 7 p.m. Come on out and get your jingle on!

Can You Run?

It’s going to be an especially good Route 60 Saturday Night later the month, because as part of our house band duties for the Dec. 15 show, we’re going to have songs featuring lead vocals by Michelle, by Randy and by Paul, all of which we were rehearsing at last night’s practice session. On this week’s podcast, the three of them bring their voices together on Randy’s featured number, a tune, incidentally, that we expect to put on our new CD when we start working on it in a few months. Here’s the great Chris Stapleton’s “Can You Run?”