Blue Skies

 We're excited to be coming back to Sal's Speakeasy in Ashland this Friday night, and, best of all, The Chick Singer is back! Yes, Floodster Emerita Michelle Hoge (whom the late Joe Dobbs christened "da chick singer" years ago) will be coming in from Cincinnati with her husband Rich just to sit in with her old band mates for the evening. It's going to be epic! We'll be playing from 6 to 9 p.m.  Here's one of the tunes we have for the set list.

I Am a Pilgrim

 It all began when Charlie took his first stumbling steps — slipping and a-sliding, as it were — in learning some bottleneck technique on his new resonator guitar. Right away, it reminded him of a gospel tune from his youth, but he just couldn’t seem to get it down. Then Danny came along, took one listen and started just naturally channeling an old Doc Watson cum Chet Atkins vibe, laying down an absolutely rock solid foundation. Sam grabbed his “E” harp and found his groove, Randy jumped in with some beautiful harmony for the choruses, and suddenly “I Am a Pilgrim” landed righteously in the repertoire.

Sister Kate

The Flood’s take on this century-old happy, naughty good-time tune of the Roarin’ Twenties owes much to the song’s re-arousal by the string bands of the 1960s. Our version borrows the great Jim Kweskin jug band’s idea of blending the tunes with the Louis Armstrong standard of the same era, “Heebie Jeebies.” And in this track, while everybody brings great solos, we all agree that it’s Danny — our newest Floodster — who, as Sam says, “becomes one with Sister Kate.”

 

Jamaica Say You Will

In music, newness is often a magical ingredient, and everything about this song is new. It all started when Charlie brought home yet another new guitar, this time a sweet little Gretsch resonator that he’ll brought always keep in one open tuning or another Playing around with it in Open D, he landed on this old Jackson Browne tune he remember from the early 1970s that just seemed to lay so easily on the strings. Well, the song was new to Danny and Randy, but true to their Flood nature, they took to it right away, immediately finding ways to enrich it. Listen to Dan’s brilliant solos and Randy’s gorgeous harmonies on the choruses.The arrangement is still evolving, but we wanted to share it here while it still had that new song smell.