"Raise a Ruckus Tonight"

 Here’s a tune we always trot out whenever we feel a party coming on. So you can bet we’ll have it on the set list this weekend for our big “Flood at 50” birthday bash on New Year’s Eve at Alchemy Theatre. That’s a night we’re so eager for that we actually started putting this song through its paces earlier this month. For instance, here’s our take on the tune from a joyous night at Sal’s Speakeasy in Ashland just a few weeks ago. Remember, we’re at Alchemy Theatre this Sunday night, 69 Holley Avenue in the beautiful hills of Huntington, WV. The birthday bash starts at 7:30 and runs all the way to the champagne toast to the new year at midnight. All the details are on our new website: Floodat50.com. Come on out. We’re going share memories — and make a whole bunch of new ones!

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

 Okay, we have a Christmas confession to make. Honestly, we don’t really care that much for Christmas music. Oh, we’re not scrooges or anything — well, a few of us are — but it’s mainly it’s just the nature of Christmas songs themselves. The chord patterns are not especially easy to remember and since you only them for a week or two every year, you don’t ever get a chance to get cozy with them. Plus, well, frankly Christmas tunes generally don’t swing. (Try to put a beat behind “Little Town of Bethlehem” and there will be repercussions….) But here’s one that does fit the Flood groove nice, especially with the merriest of our merry band — Danny Cox and Floodster Emeritus Michelle Hoge — leading the way. We hope you DO have yourself a merry little Christmas.

You Got Me Slippin'

  When we roll in tomorrow night for our latest gig at Sal’s Speakeasy in Ashland, Ky., we’re bringing with us one of our all time favorite party tunes. The song we call “You Got Me Slippin’” is loosely based on a classic Jimmy Reed tune from 65 years ago at the dawn of rock ’n’ roll.

My Dear Companion

 Nominally, this is a traditional song about abandoned love, but back in the 1960s when she reworked it, the late Jean Ritchie wrote new lyrics that went well beyond that to the larger theme of loss in general. Because of those deeper expressions, The Flood has often thought of this tune in times of our darkest grief, and we’ve even sung it at more than one graveside. So, it’s only natural for us to be thinking of it again these days with death of our own dear companion, Doug Chaffin. He absolutely loved playing this song. So, here’s to you, Doug.

"Good as I Been to You (You Gonna Quit Me Blues)"

We started doing the song in the mid-1990s, right after we heard it on a then-new Bob Dylan album. We were looking for an easy, happy little tune that we can warm up on, letting everybody just stretch out a little. Well, nowadays it just as likely to turn up as a last song of the night — as it was here at a recent rehearsal — putting a bow on a great evening of music.