Minor Swing

 A long time ago, sitting in his hilltop home near Ashland, Ky., Doug Chaffin started noodling around with some ideas he got from the great Django Reinhardt in his classic "Minor Swing” recording of 1937. Well, over time, as these things do, the melody has grown and changed into something distinctly Chaffin-esque. Doug’s never given it a name, but his band mates in The Flood have taken to calling it “Django Doug.” The piece is not finished yet. Oh gosh, far from it! It keeps on evolving. Just listen to what Veezy Coffman’s tenor sax has brought to this rich mix of ideas, as recorded here at a jam session at the Chaffin house just a couple of weeks ago.

Twisted Laurel

 A good song sometimes seem like a train, with people getting on and off all along the way. And kind of like a distant train whistle, it might resonate differently with everybody who hears it. Here’s a tune I started doing 40 years ago with Dave and Rog and Joe soon after it was released on a Red Clay Ramblers album. Doug and Sam met the song probably 20 years ago, Randy 10 years after that. And for Veezy? Well, last night was the first time she’d ever hear the song. So, here’s our latest ride on one of late Tommy Thompson’s poignant modern Appalachian laments.

Sunny Side of the Street

 One of the coolest rooms we’ve ever played in Huntington is the beautiful, historic B&O depot downtown at Heritage Station. And so we are awfully pleased that our old buddy Tyson Compton, who runs the Huntington Area Convention & Visitors Bureau is that building, has invited us back to play there tomorrow morning at the November edition of the monthly Second Saturday Market. The Flood will be on hand from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Come on down and party with us. Here, from last night’s rehearsal, is a tune we’re polishing up for the day.

Blue Moon

 Last night we got to meet another member of Vanessa Coffman’s saxophonic family — a sexy silver soprano sax that Veezy’s has named “Savoy.” And what an excellent moniker that is for this lovely instrument, which is a refurbished 1920s sax that was in its infancy when New York’s great Savoy Ballroom for which it was named was just starting to showcase the century’s greatest jazz musicians. Well, so in honor of this venerable guest, you know we had to come up with an evening of appropriate tunes which would let it rock but also roll, like this, an alternately rollicking, then prancing rendition of the 1930s classic, “Blue Moon.”