Margaret's Waltz

When Paul Martin joined the band five years ago, we knew we had received riches far beyond anything we deserved. Paul has brought not only imaginative and tasteful playing and singing, but also loyal friendship and heart-warming good humor. It was only later that we discovered he also has mad skills in the recording studio! Man, our latest album — “Speechless: The Instrumentals” — wouldn’t even exist were it not for Paul the producer making magic engineering and mixing it in his mountaintop studio high above Ironton, Ohio. And last night when Paul came back down the hill to pick a bit with Doug and Charlie at the Chaffin house in Ashland, he brought his usual magic with him. Now, as we’ve said, during these hunker-down COVID-19 days, we’re not gathering the whole band together in one room right now, but we are having mini-rehearsals, two and three members at a time like that. Another treat last night is that a dear old friend, Danny Gillum, dropped by and hopped onto Doug’s upright bass to accompany us on some of the songs. Here’s the closer for that midsummer’s night, “Margaret’s Waltz.” By the way, another rendition of that tune and 15 other cool pieces are on the new album, “Speechless: The Instrumentals.” For details, including samples of all the songs, visit our website at www.1937flood.com.

Bye Bye Blues

These days the audience for our little minimalist, socially distanced jam sessions out on the Bowen breezeway are mostly the robins and squirrels, the mockingbirds and butterflies, but occasionally a jogger or a baby stroller will pass by on the street and wave and grin, and we do grin back, though it’s a little hard to tell from behind our darned face masks. We do hope the tunes can make up for the absence of facial expressions. Here’s a moment from earlier this week that we offered to some particularly perky young dog walkers passing by.

Yas Yas Duck

When The Flood first started doing this song some 40 years ago and Charlie’s sweet mother asked where such an odd little tune came from, we didn’t want to tell her the truth, so he said, “Mom, it was a popular party song in the late 1920s.” Well, it wasn’t a complete lie; it’s just the “parties” where this song was born started very late at night and were in a part of town where nice girls generally didn’t go. The song we’ve always called “Yas Yas Duck” is an old hokum jazz tune that’s been recorded under a lot different names over the years. As near as we can figure, the first recording was by the great St. Louis piano pounder James “Stump” Johnson who released it in January 1929 as “The Duck Yas-Yas-Yas.” Later that some year, new versions started cropping up, one recorded by Oliver Cobb and his Rhythm Kings and another by all-time Flood heroes Tampa Red and Georgia Tom. For us, the tune has become a kind of connective tissue between today and our old jug band roots of the 1970s and ’80s. That’s why we put it on our first commercial CD back in 2001, and why it still gets trotted out regularly at rehearsals, just so newer members of the band can learn it. This track, from a rehearsal back in early March, was bassist Paul Callicoat’s introduction to The Duck. At the beginning of the track, you’ll hear us telling him where to find the chords in his new Flood Fakebook.

Over the Rainbow

In these days of rage, overwhelmed with a constant stream of angry and sad images from all across the country, peaceful moments are especially valuable. Lately the Bowens’ neighbors have been thanking us for moving our rehearsals outdoors, because they can hear the music through their opened windows. The reason for our relocation is, of course, another sadness: our ongoing worries about possibly spreading the Coronavirus have made us reluctant to call the whole band back together for now, so lately Flood rehearsals -- such as they are, are minimalist affairs -- two or three of us at a time … and socially distanced … and outside. This week started with a particular peacefulness when Michelle Lewis and Vanessa Coffman came by to share a few songs out back on the Bowen breezeway.