Honeysuckle Rose.... Corrected....

Boy, we sure are blessed with a mighty tolerant, forgiving band. When we have a big show coming up — like we did last weekend with the launch of the new season of “Route 60 Saturday Night” — The Flood has rehearsals and nails down the arrangements of all the tunes, deciding things like, okay, Doug and Paul will do a duet in this section, then Sam will come in for a solo on the bridge and then we’ll throw it back to Michelle for the vocals. But then sometimes when we get to the actual show, Charlie forgets everything we worked out. That’s what happened Saturday night with our carefully arranged plans for “Honeysuckle Rose.” Fortunately, as usual, our bandmates just grinned and winked at each other, as if to say, “Well, Old Charlie has wandered off on his own again.” Later our sweet-tempered bass player Randy Hamilton told him, “Hey, it’s not the mistakes you make; it’s how well you recover.” And we did seem to do okay on that score. Most people outside the band didn’t seem to notice the big screwup. Even Pamela, our manager, who hears our tunes more than anyone, thought, “Huh! Sounds like they’ve worked out a different version this time.” Uh, right! Anyway, as a musical footnote, here (from a rehearsal last week) is how “Honeysuckle Rose” was supposed to go Saturday night.

The Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba Homework (Sentimental Journey)

We don’t usually give homework assignments, but if you’re coming to this weekend’s Route 60 Saturday Night show, we want you to be ready for our special end-of-show sing-along. We tested it out for the first time last weekend at Taylor Books in Charleston and… well, heck, let’s just let Michelle explain it. Here’s that moment from last week’s show….  (Remember, we’ll ba-ba-ba be at Route 60 Saturday Night THIS Saturday night, March 16, for the opening of our fourth big season! The guest artists are singer-songwriters Wakita Billups and Luke Sadecky. The show starts at 7 p.m. at Route 60 Music Co., 60 Peyton Street in Barboursville. Admission is $5 and this month all proceeds go to the Lifehouse recovery program. Join us — it’s gonna be great evening!)

Way Downtown .... in Charleston ... this Saturday night....

Charleston’s Taylor Books is a fun venue for us, in part because it reminds us of the coffeehouse culture of our youth. The Flood grew up in sweet spots like this, where the stage was a wide space at the end of the long room, the tables were tucked in near enough to the performers so the audience could easily sing along. Some of our best memories were born in rooms like this. That's why we’re always eager to return whenever the folks at Taylor Books invite us back, as they have this weekend. Here’s a tune we have on tap for Saturday night when we’re going back “Way Downtown” in Charleston. Remember, it’s Saturday night, Taylor Books, 226 Capitol Street, Charleston. The show starts at 7:30.