Jam Logs, the Podcast of The 1937 Flood

Roger Samples Sings "Chemo Blues"

2012-02-09T09:26:00.002-05:00

A band that's been around for 40 years has a lot of graduates. And the undisputed valedictorian of the class of Floodsters Emeritus is Rog Samples. Roger is one of the four founders of The Flood, and his vocals and beautiful guitar work, along with the great songs he writes, were central the band's sound for its first 10 years or more, before Rog and his family moved from West Virginia to the green pastures of Mount Sterling, Ky. We still get together as often as we can, and Rog and his brothers, Mack and Ted, are treasured friends. Now, for the past year, our brother Roger has been making a remarkable, inspiring stand against cancer, and with his typical wit and artistry, he decided there had to be a song in there somewhere too. And so, out of the fight of a lifetime comes his original tune, "Chemo Blues."

I'll Fly Away

2012-02-02T09:04:00.000-05:00

Wednesday night means The Flood's regular practice session, but it's become so much more than that. The jam session has evolved into a weekly reunion of old friends and new friends, folks we see often, others we see only occasionally. Last night a recently departed friend was much on Michelle Walker's mind when she suggested this great old gospel number. In the playing of it, it quickly grew into a celebration of all the friends who had come together on that particular rainy winter night.

The Flood Celebrates the 75th Anniversary of Its Namesake

2012-01-26T08:42:00.001-05:00

Seventy-five years ago this week, most of the streets of downtown Huntington -- and many other cities along the Ohio River -- were under water, devastated by the great 1937 flood. So, if you're a band named about that natural disaster and you have a jam session on its poignant anniversary, what do you play? Why, one of the fine flood songs of Bob Dylan, of course. Take it away, boys.

It was a Night for Newcomers!

2012-01-19T15:00:00.002-05:00

It was a night for newcomers at the Family Flood's jam session last night. At the recommendation of Joe Dobbs, bluesman Chris Sutton and his buddy Mike Lyzenga dropped in to share a few tunes. And from Princeton, W.Va., singer/songwriter Albert Perrone came his friend and jam session regular Doug Imbrogno. Finally, in the spirit of all things new, The Flood introduced its new band mate. Bassist/guitarist/singer Randy Hamilton of Willow Wood, Ohio, has become our newest member. Randy's been sitting in with us since late last summer, and we figured it was high time we made an honest Floodster out of him. You'll hear him on both of these tracks from last night's do. First up is Chris with a bluesy original called "Elevator." Then come Doug and Albert with a wild and woolly rendition of that 1940s standard, "Enjoy Yourself." Doug calls our jam sessions the region's only weekly Irish caili. Well, thank to you guys, we certainly DID enjoy yourselves!

Come to Our Party This Friday Night, Dec. 30!

2011-12-29T17:15:00.001-05:00

If you're in the Huntington area, we sure hope you'll drop by to party with us at 7 o'clock this Friday night, Dec. 30, at the Ballroom of the Renaissance Center at 900 8th Street. We'll be playing tunes from "Wade in the Water," our first new CD in nearly eight years. The whole band will be on stage and the new CD will be available for purchase. Oh, and if you can't attend our New Year's Eve Eve do, remember you can also buy the CD online. Go to our web site -- 1937flood.com -- and click on the banner at the top. And to get you in the mood, here's another sample track from the new disc -- fiddlin' Joe Dobbs and "Whisky Before Breakfast" -- bad idea, but a great tune.

Come to Our Party This Friday Night, Dec. 30!

2011-12-22T08:18:00.002-05:00

Pretty Polly

2011-12-15T08:58:00.001-05:00

There must be a million versions of the song "Pretty Polly." You can trace it all the way back to the British Isles and ballads like "The Gosport Tragedy" and "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter." We've always played a little fast and loose with the traditional Appalachian melody and lyrics, particularly late at night, as with last night's version when it was the final tune of the jam session.

Dan Cowan Sings "Rock Salt & Nails"

2011-12-08T08:58:00.001-05:00

Our weekly jam sessions are often blessed with extraordinary instrumentalists -- guitarists, fiddlers, banjo pickers and more -- but occasionally we're also joined by an excellent song stylist. Such a singer is Dan Cowan, who hails from the little town of Pinch, W.Va., in Kanawha County. Dan's work schedule doesn't allow him to drop by very often, but when he does it's always a special moment. In this track, it's late in the evening. Doug Chaffin brings out his fiddle and he and Dan duet on a great old Utah Phillips standard.

House of the Rising Sun ... uh ... Waltz

2011-12-01T09:48:00.001-05:00

The jam session seldom starts with the same tune week after week, but often ends with one. After several hours of music, after the voices are spent and fingers are sore, someone's calling for the old folk music chestnut, "The House of the Rising Sun" usually signals that the collective is finished for another week. But that doesn't mean the assembly will play the song the same way each time. Sometimes it's fast and furious, other times it's slow and bluesy. Sometimes it's a serious ballad, other times, naw, just for laughs. Last night? Well, it wasn't a first -- but it has been a while since we've done it in waltz time…

Thanksgiving Jam 2011

2011-11-24T08:23:00.001-05:00

For many around here, Thanksgiving isn't so much about travel. Instead, we're the home that people come back to for the holiday. Last night, on the eve of Thanksgiving 2011, we had our dear friend Jacob Scarr home from college in Colorado. And New Yorker Matt Parker was in the town visiting his grandparents. Well, we had to get these two young guitarists trading licks on an old blues, the way they have at Thanksgiving jam sessions in previous years. Oh, and if you listen closely toward the end of the track, that's jam session newcomer Sonny Sumner with a tasteful little ride on his electric. Yes, it was a guitaroarious evening.

Michelle Walker Lights Up the Room

2011-11-17T10:03:00.001-05:00

Bassist Randy Hamilton nailed it last night. As he was packing up at the end of the evening, he said, "Boy, there sure is a lot of energy in the room when the chick singer's here. She just radiates it!" So true. Our Michelle Walker can't make it to the jam session every week, but when she does, the room lights up. Here's her last number of the evening, and it's just as powerful as her first two hours earlier.

Mark Keen's First Flooding

2011-11-10T09:04:00.001-05:00

Pittsburgh harmonica sensation Mark Keen actually grew up in our town. In fact, he and one of our jam session regulars, guitarist Randy Brown, went all through school together here back in the '70s. Well, Mark was back home in Huntington this week. Last night Randy brought him to his first Flood jam session, and, good golly, we had a ball. Mark limbered up his harps as soon as he hit door and we didn't stop for more than two hours. Now, we understand Mark doesn't get home very often but we hoping that from now when he does, he puts The Flood on his "to-do" list!

Down By the Sally Gardens

2011-11-03T09:41:00.001-04:00

Not long ago, Joe Dobbs added a fifth string to one of his fiddles which gives him a lovely new lower register to play with. Sometimes it's like having another instrument in the band, a cross between a violin and viola. Late in the evening at a recent jam session, Joe demonstrated how this innovation can give a whole new voice to tune like "Down by the Sally Garden," which The Flood's been playing since its first CD more than 10 years ago. Oh, and by the way, that's our buddy Jim Rumbaugh playing that beautiful harmonica solo.

The Cincinnati Rag

2011-10-27T09:45:00.001-04:00

Sometimes one tune sets the mood for the whole evening. At a recent jam session, I said to Joe Dobbs, "How about a fiddle tune?"Out came "Cincinnati Rag," a great old Byrd Moore - Clarence Green piece from 1930 that we haven't really done much with in years. Well, it got everybody grinning. And if you listen closely -- that Randy Brown in the middle of things, taking a break on a borrowed guitar. It was just that kind of night.

Tom Norman Finally Finds The Flood

2011-10-20T09:48:00.001-04:00

Tom Norman has been playing in rock 'n' roll bands around here for decades, occasionally dipping into rockabilly. Back in the '90s, he was on Joe Dobbs's old "Music from the Mountains" radio show on West Virginia Public Radio show. Well, Tom finally made it to a Flood jam session and before the evening was out, we had him singing an original.

Rob McNurlin Sings "Blind Willie McTell"

2011-10-13T09:17:00.001-04:00

Many of us think we know a lot of Bob Dylan tunes. And then we think again of our good friend Rob McNurlin, who REALLY knows a lot of Bob Dylan tunes. One night last summer when Rob was home from Nashville and sitting in with us, our old buddy Zoe Brewer was in the room and she said, "Hey, Rob, do that Willie McTell song!" Rob thought for a moment and then out came this beautiful, little-known song that Dylan wrote in the early 1980s and didn't release until almost a decade later. It was the hit of the evening.

A Two-Harmonica Wednesday

2011-10-06T08:50:00.000-04:00

The jam session's always better when there's a harmonica in the room. Twice the fun when there's two of them! Last night The Flood's regular harmonicat, Sam St. Clair, was joined by Flood buddy Jim Rumbaugh, happily a frequent visitor to our Wednesday nights. Here we turned Sam and Jim loose on a version of a blues standard that we learned from vinyl: a 1961 Folkways recording by the late giant Eric Von Schmidt.

Don't Get Around Much Any More

2011-09-29T09:19:00.001-04:00

It's always a sweeter evening when The Chick Singer's on hand. We'd not seen our Michelle Walker for a month or more. She's been busy with personal, non-musical business. But last night she rolled into town and cranked Wednesday night up a couple of notches. You know, there are tunes we never play except when Michelle is in the room, like this great old Duke Ellington number.

Ready for the Times to Get Better

2011-09-22T09:00:00.001-04:00

Our old buddy Paul Martin doesn't join us on our Wednesday night jam sessions nearly often enough, but when he does, he makes memories. Recently Paul came with his mandolin and sat in for the entire evening, producing smiles all around the room. Here he and his old bandmate Randy Hamilton team up on the 1978 tune, "Ready for the Times to Get Better." The song was originally recorded by country crooner Crystal Gayle, but it's perhaps better known in the folkie world for the Doc Watson version of a few years back.

Sittin' on Top of the World

2011-09-14T09:04:00.001-04:00

Pamela, The Flood's manager, occasionally reminds us that the weekly jam session is social as well as musical, a gathering of friends, regular listeners as well as players. We thought of that again as we listened to this track, which seems to capture the feeling of this particular evening. The end of a long, hot summer. Folks coming in happy … happy to be out of the heat, happy to see old friends again, happy to settle into this old Mississippi Sheiks tune that's as comfortable as a soft hat and cool breeze…

What's in The Soup This Week?

2011-09-08T09:54:00.000-04:00

What we love about the Wednesday night jam sessions is that each one's different, depending on who's in the mix. It's like a good soup made from whatever ingredients just happen to be in the kitchen at the time. Some Wednesdays are all about blues, others are country or folk. Last night was a swinging evening, with the main ingredients being Doug Chaffin on bass, Joe Dobbs on fiddle, Jim Rumbaugh on harmonica, Randy Brown on guitar, and the rest of us just reaching out and holding on for the ride…

Randy Brown and Joe Dobbs Jam Like the Old Days

2011-09-01T09:37:00.001-04:00

Randy Brown is a jazz guitar player who regularly sits in with us and just classes up the joint! And whenever he starts playing great handfuls of what our Doug Chaffin calls "those Louisville chords," it's fun to watch the jaws drop around the room. Randy has known Joe Dobbs almost as long as The Flood has, with shared musical memories reaching back to the late 1970s. Last night, we got the two of them jamming on a few fiddle-and-guitar duets. These days, the Wednesday night jam sessions have become all the richer now that Randy has become a regular.

Mike Smith Comes Home to the Family Flood

2011-08-25T10:13:00.001-04:00

We've not seen our great friend, Mike Smith, for months and months. In fact, since our last get-together, Mike went back home to England to visit with family and friends for three weeks or so. But now he's back in The States and last night he came back to his Flood family. Mike's quite a musician. In addition to playing a lyrical fiddle, he also stops us in our tracks with his a cappella ballads. Here he takes along on Christy Moore's wonderful song, "A Stitch in Time." Oh, and stay tuned when the singing's done, because the lyrics inspire Doug Chaffin to tell us a story.

She's The Ohio

2011-08-18T09:17:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago, our dear friend Phyllis Dale came by for a long-overdue visit with The Flood. And on the podcast the next day, we featured a couple of Phyllis's good-time tunes, the kind of numbers with which she used to rock The Delta Queen steamboat, where she was an on-board entertainer for 10 years. But there's another side to Phyllis Dale too -- the ballad singer and songwriter. Here's another track from that evening. This time Phyllis does her wonderful composition, "She's the Ohio." And listen closely -- that's our friend Wendell Dobbs sitting in on flute for the solos.

Payday

2011-08-11T06:32:00.000-04:00

The Flood has been doing "Payday," that great old Mississippi John Hurt song, for years now. In fact, it's featured on the first CD we recorded a decade ago this summer. But it is still a favorite at the weekly jam session, where the tune takes on a different personality, depending on who's sitting in that night. On this version, we were especially energized because the great guitarist Jesse Smith was on hand, and his stellar finger-pickin' solos took "Payday" to a whole 'nother level!

Phyllis Dale Finally Parties with The Flood

2011-08-04T19:36:00.003-04:00

It was more than 15 years ago when we met singer/pianist Phyllis Dale, the original Red Hot Mama of The Delta Queen riverboat. For more than a decade, every night Phyllis played whatever the crowd wanted when the passengers gathered for the after-hour parties in the steamboat's great old Texas Lounge. Phyllis is an original, a born entertainer and we've been waiting for years to get her up here for one of our Wednesday night jam sessions. Well, finally we had our night, and The Flood's own crowd was enthralled.

Wendell Dobbs Sits in with His Oughta-be-Brother, Joe

2011-07-28T13:22:00.002-04:00

Joe Dobbs and Dr. Wendell Dobbs are not related, but when you hear Joe's fiddle and Wendell's flute together, you'd swear these Dobbses were brothers. Or at least, they ought to be. Wendell, a music professor at Marshall University and a section leader of the Huntington Symphony Orchestra, is an old friend. Here, he and Joe put their special touch on a beautiful ballad from the British Isles, "The Water is Wide."

A Great Evening with Jesse Smith

2011-07-21T10:43:00.002-04:00

Our friend Jesse Smith -- the phenomenal, nationally known fingerpicker -- came down from his home in Wadsworth, Ohio, near Akron, to sit in with us last night for one sweet evening. Jesse makes everything sing -- just listen to his solo near the end of our trot through this 1918 Leo Wood standard. And stayed tuned as he leads the guys on a tear through "Little Rock Getaway."

The Aussies Have Landed!

2011-07-14T11:24:00.001-04:00

It's always a good summer when our friends Rod and Judy Jones arrive on one of their regular visits from their native Australia. And now 2011 is officially a good summer. The Aussies have landed again! The Flood first met Rod and Judy, experts players of old-time stringband music of the 1920s and '30s, more than three decades ago, during the couple's first visit to The States. Now, as then, whenever they sit in with us, we all get back to our roots.

Paul Martin Swings by The Jam Session

2011-07-07T13:01:00.001-04:00

One of our favorite local bands used to be Sheldon Road, a trio of great singers and pickers named Paul Martin, Randy Hamilton and Kenny Adams. Alas, the group disbanded a few years ago, but we've stayed in touch with all the guys. In fact, Randy Hamilton has been sitting in with us on bass for several weeks now. And last night, Randy's old compatriot Paul Martin dropped in with his sweet mandolin. We even got Paul singing some -- here he leads us through a great old Bob Dylan standard.

Rog Samples' Flood Homecoming

2011-06-30T10:45:00.001-04:00

When someone says The Flood is an eclectic string band, they're actually paying tribute to one of our founders, Roger Samples. And whenever Roger stops by to sit in again with his old partners, we're reminded all over again of just how wide and deep our dear friend's musical tastes run, from folk and blues and The Beatles to a sweet old Jimmy Rodgers tune. Here are three tracks from Roger's Flood Homecoming.

The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore

2011-06-23T09:08:00.001-04:00

Doug Chaffin has played with us for more than a dozen years now. Most nights he's busy driving the band on his big upright bass, but last night our buddy Randy Hamilton came by to sit in with his sweet acoustic electric bass, so Doug switched off to other instruments -- and he plays a bunch of them. On this tune, you hear him take the first solo on guitar, but by the end of the song, Doug's switched to his fiddle. Oh, and if you listen closely, you'll hear Randy also singing that high harmony with us on the choruses of this beautiful old Jean Ritchie composition.

The Flood Gets Churched with Rob McNurlin

2011-06-16T09:07:00.002-04:00

We don't get to see our old buddy Rob McNurlin nearly often enough. But recently the Ashland, Ky., singer-songwriter was home from Nashville and waiting on the doorstep before the jam session even got started. The whole evening was shaped around Rob's tunes, and my favorite part was when we got him into a mood for some of his gospel tunes.

A Big Send-Off for Jacob Scarr

2011-06-09T09:32:00.002-04:00

Jacob Scarr started sitting in with us when he was 14 years old, and has played lead guitar as a regular member of The Flood for the past three years. Well, now Jacob's 18 and at the end of this summer, he'll be heading off to college in Colorado. Recently, we moved the regular Wednesday night jam session to Jacob's house, where neighbors, family, friends and Flood fans all came together for a huge send-off party in Jacob's honor. And of course, on the morning-after, we had to share a couple of tunes from that special night with our podcast friends.

A Reunion of Old and New Friends

2011-06-02T09:10:00.001-04:00

One of the things we love about our Wednesday nights is that the weekly jam session is a kind of crossroads where old and new friends get to meet. Last night, our old buddy percussionist Dan Trout dropped by on a trip from Athens, Ohio, and got to meet fellow drummer John Smith, who lately has been sitting in with us with his brushes and snare. Meanwhile, it was the first jam session for Paula Stewart, a talented member of Jim Rumbaugh's wonderful Huntington Harmonica Club. Here's a tune that features all our visitors.

Stormy Weather

2011-05-19T09:46:00.000-04:00

Michelle Walker, the chick singer, can't make it to the jam session every week, but it's always a special night when she arrives early and stays late. Last night was such a night. Michelle came in out of the rain with a song in mind that we could do as a little anthem for the stormy week we've had here in the valley.

Crazy Words, Crazy Tunes

2011-05-12T09:36:00.000-04:00

Every May, The Flood plays one of its favorite gigs of the year. It's the annual Coon Sanders Nighthawks Fans Bash, a gathering here in our hometown of Huntington, West Virginia, that celebrates the early days of jazz and Dixieland. For seven or eight years now, The Flood has come to the bash's Saturday morning session with a "Jug Band Breakfast," an hour or so of bacon and eggs with a liberal side of hokum tunes. In preparation for the day, we focused on our jug band repertoire at last night's jam session.

Clarinet Polka

2011-05-05T08:21:00.001-04:00

Spending his early years in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, fiddler Joe Dobbs was exposed a wide variety of musical styles, from Cajun to country, blues to bluegrass, pop to polka. Forty years ago when he came north and east and helped us form The Flood, Joe brought us a huge song bag. Here's one that was always popular with the sizable German population of Joe's old stomping grounds. And incidentally, this also is a substantial answer to anyone who thinks traditional fiddlers just want to plop down in plain D and stay there. "Clarinet Polka" makes three key changes each time through the melody.

House of the Rising Sun

2011-04-28T09:56:00.001-04:00

Sometimes the magic happens at the tail-end of the evening, after the voices are strained and the fingers are tender from all that picking. On this particular track, half the band had already packed gone home. Jacob Scarr and Joe Dobbs were fixing to do same, when our buddy Jim Rumbaugh came in late from the cold and limbered up his harmonicas, so they decided to stick around for a couple more tunes.

Fiddler Susan Staton's First Flood Jam Session

2011-04-21T08:50:00.001-04:00

One of our favorite parts of the weekly jam sessions is getting to sit in with musicians from all over the country who stop in for one of our Wednesday nights. Last night was the first time for fiddler Susan Staton of the Central-Florida-based Streak of Lean old-time string band. Susan grew up in our area, but went to work for the railroad and transferred to various cities, from Richmond to Jacksonville. But she obviously never forgot her Appalachian roots. Here Susan leads us on a raucous romp through "Soldier Joy." And if you listen closely, you'll hear that Joe Dobbs, the Flood's regular fiddler, switches to mandolin for the occasion. And Dave Peyton does some nice Autoharp work before passing it back to the visiting violinist. Kick it off, Sue!

One Meatball

2011-04-14T09:17:00.001-04:00

From Chesapeake, Ohio, N.F. Brown -- everybody calls him "Nerf" -- first dropped by the jam session a few weeks ago and for most of that evening, he just sat quietly in the corner strumming his Taylor guitar. It was only near the end of the night, after many of the regulars had already gone home, that Nerf offered a tune -- and blew the doors off the place with his big, beautiful voice. Right then and there we told him he had to come back and next time sing earlier so more folks would get to hear him. Well, last night was the night -- here Mr. Brown leads The Flood through a great old Josh White standard. Good times, Nerf -- come back any time, buddy!

The 1937 Flood Orchestra

2011-04-07T08:58:00.001-04:00

We had so many pickers at the jam session last night, it was more like The 1937 Flood orchestra, with guest artists. Jim Rumbaugh came in with a belt full of harmonicas. Randy Brown was there with his big beautiful f-cut Gibson and Floodster emeritus Chuck Romine dropped by with that sweet little tenor guitar that we've always loved so much. With all that extra string and wind power, we rocked the neighborhood.

If You Lose Your Money (Please Don't Lose Your Mind)

2011-03-31T09:03:00.001-04:00

If you've ever been to one of our Wednesday night jam sessions, you know that people -- players and listeners -- are always coming and going. The music evolves, depending on who's on hand at the time that particular tune is being played. Here's a case in point. On this evening, our lead guitarist, Jacob Scarr, had just arrived and tuned up as we were launching into this old Sonny Terry-Brownie McGhee number. Then midway through, harmonicat Sam St. Clair came in, took his seat, grabbed a harp and hopped onboard before the song was done.

Picking with Rog

2011-03-25T09:38:00.000-04:00

Roger Samples, one of the founders of The Flood, is a bit under the weather these days, so recently The Flood made a house call. Joe Dobbs and Charlie Bowen hit the road, hooking up with Buddy Griffin and Rog's brother Mack for a few hours of music in Roger's Mount Sterling, Ky., home. During the more than 10 years he played regularly with The Flood, Rog brought in so many tunes for us to do, from beautiful Michael Peter Smith ballads to crazy jugband tunes.

Dinah

2011-03-17T08:56:00.000-04:00

Folks who regularly drop in to our Wednesday night jam sessions are privy to a pretty badly kept secret: namely, that we don't really have arrangements for our music. A tune for The Flood is like a pair of comfortable old shoes that's been worn in just right by slipping them and dancing around. Jam session regulars listen as new tunes come into the mix and get softened up by repetition each week. Here's a case in point -- we've just started playing with this great old 1926 Ethel Waters standard and in this track, you can hear we're still experimenting with it.

Come See Our New Videos!

2011-03-10T14:17:00.001-05:00

We've got a little something different this week. Instead of our regular audio podcast, we're inviting you to come over to our website and check out a few new videos. Our good friends, Norman and Shirley Davis invited us to a party last night at The Wyngate, their new retirement home in Barboursville, West Virginia -- just us and 30 or 40 of their closest friends. We had a ball playing for this bunch, and Pamela captured some cool video. Come take a look -- visit our web site at www.1937flood.com and click the banner at the top of the front page.

Roger Samples, on Joe Dobbs' "Music from the Mountains," 2002

2011-03-08T08:30:00.003-05:00

In October 2002, when Joe Dobbs' weekly "Music from the Mountains" show was in its 19th year on West Virginia Public Radio, Rog Samples was the guest, singing and playing tunes live with Joe, and listening to cuts from Samples Brothers' CDs. He also reminisced about his early days of music in the coffeehouses, at Marshall, in high school in Clendenin, WV. And he and Joe talked about Rog's songwriting and about his children's music. Sit back and enjoy -- this audio track is about 40 minutes long.

Jesse Smith Sittin' In

2011-03-03T09:38:00.001-05:00

Joe Dobbs has been knowing guitar player Jesse Smith of Wadsworth, Ohio, near Akron, for five or six years now, but this was the first time some of the rest of us got to meet him. On his way to the Cabin Fever Pickin' Party in Hampton, Va., Jesse came with Joe to sit with us and the finger-picking phenom sweetened up everything we played. Here are a couple of samples.

How Long, How Long Blues

2011-02-24T09:26:00.001-05:00

Here's a tune that was a mainstay for The Flood when the band started back in the mid-1970s, but until last night's jam session, we'd not played it in literally several decades. It's a blues standard from the 1920s by the great Leroy Carr.

Joe Fiddles for Norman and Shirley

2011-02-17T09:50:00.001-05:00

Norman and Shirley Davis have become our most loyal Wednesday night listeners. Lately they've been little disappointed that one of their favorites -- fiddler Joe Dobbs -- couldn't make the sessions. Well, last night, when Joe blew back in on a warm spring-like February evening, one look at the Davises told you how pleased they were to see and hear him again. And Joe played a couple of special fiddle tunes just for Shirley and Norman.

Randy Brings a Banjo

2011-02-10T10:13:00.001-05:00

We never really know what direction our Wednesday night jam sessions will take. It all depends on who shows and what they bring to play. Jazz guitarist Randy Brown has been sitting in with us most Wednesdays for more than a year now, playing great solos on his Gibson L5. But last night, Randy came to the door with his plectrum banjo, a beautiful 50-year-old Vega, and suddenly an evening of quiet folk songs took a decidedly raucous turn. Here's a sample.

Jacob Turns 18

2011-02-03T11:27:00.001-05:00

Guitarist Jacob Scarr, the youngest member ever in The Flood's 35-year history, turned 18 last night, and that struck us as a pretty darn good reason to celebrate. Our gift to him? Multiple solos on just about every tune we played, including all the solos on this little blues number. And Jacob's gift to us? Well, besides years of tasty music every Wednesday night, last night his mom, P.J., sent over cannoli, making it a pretty sweet evening all the way around!

Just Because

2011-01-27T09:59:00.001-05:00

Our buddy Roger Samples is one of the founding members of The Flood. From its first days in the 1970s through the mid-1980s, Rog played and sang with us, and his guitar styling, vocals and song selection have set the standard for The Flood ever since. Even after Roger and his family moved to Kentucky, we stayed in touch and last weekend, on a bright, crisp January day, a bunch of us headed to Mount Sterling for a little reunion with Roger and his brothers, Mack and Ted, who form the legendary Samples Brothers Band. Here's a tune for that grand day, with Mack and Roger doing the vocals and that's Ted on the five-string.

Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me

2011-01-06T09:07:00.001-05:00

1919 was an amazing year in music. With The Great War over, Tin Pan Alley was pumping out the hits again. "12th Street Rag" and "Royal Garden Blues," "Swanee" and "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate." Meanwhile, on the other end of the block, a trio of composers -- Charles McCarron, Casey Morgan and Arthur Swanstrom -- were making this little ditty, just so The Flood could flirt with it 90 years later.

Moonshine in Those West Virginia Hills

2010-12-30T09:12:00.001-05:00

Flood buddy Rose Marie Riter, a regular at our Wednesday night jam sessions, heads up our ministry of laughter and general tomfoolery. Miz Rose brought her brother and niece to last night's jam session and, at one point in the evening she requested this … oh, so beautiful old Roy Harvey ballad, called, "We've Got Moonshine in Those West Virginia Hills." Brother Dave Peyton was on hand and happy to do the honors.

Floodiz Navidad

2010-12-23T16:57:00.002-05:00

It was Christmas Eve-eve-eve, and several dozen people were in the room to party with The Flood at our weekly jam session, when we turned it over to Dave Ball -- to us, he's known as "Bub" -- for a seasonal chuckle: a twisted Christmas parody from the great Bob Rivers. Later in the evening, The Flood's good buddy, Mike Smith, dropped in to favor us with a beautiful a cappella rendition of one of our all-time favorite carols of the season. Happy holidays, everybody!

You Got Me Runnin'

2010-12-09T09:01:00.000-05:00

One of the fun things about our weekly jam sessions is that there are often surprises. For instance, for years The Flood has used this simple little Jimmy Reed piece from 1959 as a warm-up tune, without thinking much about it. However, recently, Michelle Walker came up with an interesting harmony part for the vocals and suddenly it's like a new brand new tune for us.

Ashokan Farewell

2010-12-02T09:18:00.000-05:00

New Yorker Jay Ungar wrote "Ashokan Farewell" in 1982 and for nearly a decade, the sweet waltz, written in the style of a Scottish lament, was known mainly only to Jay's fellow fiddlers. But then in 1990s, filmmaker Ken Burns used it as the title theme of his Civil War series on PBS and suddenly the tune was an international hit. The song's always been a late-night favorite at the Flood jam sessions, especially when, like last night, Doug Chaffin moves over to guitar to partner with Joe Dobbs' beautiful fiddle.

Thanksgiving 2010 ... With Kazoos...

2010-11-25T08:26:00.001-05:00

Twenty-seven people in one room. Pamela comes in with a baggie of kazoos. Orchestrated chaos ensues. That was last night at the jam session. It being the night before Thanksgiving, the crowd included friends coming from as far away as New York and Washington and as near as across town and from down around the block. Good friends... always something to be thankful for.

Misty

2010-11-18T09:01:00.000-05:00

Flood co-founder Dave Peyton is bit under the weather right now and has not been able to attend the weekly jam sessions lately, and last night the guys were especially missing him. So, knowing how Dave's always been such a fan the great Johnny Mathis, Michelle Walker led us on a special musical get-well card for our old spiritual leader and kazoo guru.

Georgia on My Mind

2010-11-11T10:21:00.001-05:00

The Flood has an abiding love for the music of the great Hoagy Carmichael. Sometimes nothing fits the mood better than one of Hoagy's tune, and last night was such a night. At a lull in the usual rowdy jugband action at the jam session, Joe eased into "Georgia on my Mind." On the break, we turned it over to Jacob for a couple of sweet choruses on the guitar before handing it back to Joe's fiddle, and in the process, made a memory.

Any Way She Done It

2010-11-04T08:17:00.000-04:00

Our hero, Hudson Woodbridge -- known to millions as Tampa Red -- recorded his tune called "No Matter How She Done" in Chicago in 1932. Sixty or 70 years later, The Flood picked it up and flipped the polarity on the old number, doing it as "Any Way She Done," but, hey, that won't matter. Any way you do it, it's still Tampa Red's baby!

Got the Kansas City Blues

2010-10-28T09:16:00.000-04:00

Because of travel and then, more recently, illness, we've not an a jam session for a couple of weeks. So this is a chance to reach back in the archives for a tune from an earlier session. Like this one, from last summer when our Missouri buddies Dave Para and Cathy Barton dropped in. This was at the end of the evening, when they took a ride on the first number ever recorded by the great Delmore Brothers in 1931.

Midnight Special

2010-10-14T09:11:00.000-04:00

Our weekly jam sessions often let us get reacquainted with old friends. And sometimes the old friends are old tunes. We hadn't played that great old Leadbelly standard "Midnight Special" for five or six years, but one autumn evening recently it just sort of felt like the right song for the right night. Oh, it took us a minute or two to remember how we used to do it, but after a chorus or two, it drop right back into the groove.

Ron Eldridge Gets Flooded

2010-10-07T09:41:00.001-04:00

It's always interesting when dye-in-the-wool bluegrassers wander into one of our jam sessions. There's usually one of two possible reactions when they get a whiff of The Flood's thick jumbo of blues, swing and jugband music. They either about-face and head back to the door or they grin and grab a seat at the table. (The good ones even bring their own spoon.) You'd be hard-pressed to find a better bluegrass player today than Ron Eldridge. Ronnie grew in our area, started playing his daddy's fiddle in the late 1960s and by the mid-'70s was playing with the locally legendary Sweeney Brothers band. In the 1980s, Eldridge struck out for Nashville and has been there ever since, a solid citizen in that famed music scene and a frequent performer on The Grand Ole Opry. But last night it was The Flood's turn and Ron showed us he could put the BLUE(S) in bluegrass.

The Ash Grove

2010-09-30T09:12:00.003-04:00

Last weekend, Joe and Charlie traveled to Cincinnati to play in the wedding of Charlie's cousin, Andy Dronberger. Andy and his new bride, Melissa, wanted something different than the usual wedding music fare for their big day, so for the bride's entrance at the ceremony, they played a traditional melody, "The Ash Grove." That haunting, beautiful old Welsh tune was still very much on their minds at last night's regular Flood jam session, when Joe shared it with the guys.

San Francisco Bay Blues

2010-09-23T09:07:00.000-04:00

The first time we ever heard the kazoo played on the radio was in the mid-'60s when Peter, Paul and Mary took a kazoo break on "San Francisco Bay Blues." And it turns out the kazoo is generally associated with this great old tune. One-man band Jesse Fuller, who wrote the song, took a kazoo solo on his original 1962 recording of it. And then, 30 years later, super-cool Eric Clapton even took a kazoo break when he recorded it. Of course, in The Flood, it's Brother Dave Peyton who's our hoodoo kazoo guru, and last night he spun a little of that old kazoo magic on the tune when it popped up at the jam session.

Ditty Wah Ditty

2010-09-09T09:12:00.001-04:00

Precious little is known about Blind Blake. There's only one photograph. We don't even known where he was born or when and how he died. But between 1926 and 1932, Arthur "Blind" Blake left a slew of wonderful blues recordings for Paramount Records. And Blake penned one song that for 80 years now has tickled the fancy of eclectic performers like Leon Redbone and Ry Cooder. Recently The Flood took a ride on the same great song on an evening when our old buddy Chuck Romine dropped by to sit in with us on his tenor banjo.

Heaven's Radio

2010-09-02T08:47:00.001-04:00

The Flood's Dave Peyton was a good friend of country music stars Molly O'Day and her husband, band leader Lynn Davis. Columbia Records artists who were signed by the legendary Fred Rose himself, Molly and Lynn were much in demand in '40s and early '50s, but left at the height of their career, deciding instead to devote themselves to their church and gospel music. Dave met them in the 1970s, when Molly and Lynn settled in our town of Huntington and spent their last years performing on a local Christian radio station. Molly's name came up again at a recent Wednesday night jam session when our friends from Australia, Rod and Judy Jones, dropped in and dusted off a Molly O'Day classic. Here, with Joe Dobbs on fiddle, is "Heaven's Radio."

Somebody Stole Mah Gal

2010-08-26T15:29:00.001-04:00

Our good friend Richard Cobb says our weekly jam session reminds him of an old-fashioned "happening." Every week, the music that happens is solely determined by who walks through the door that night. And last night was a good example. About a third of The Flood couldn't make the session, but those of us who did were joined by buddies who came just to sit in for the evening, good folks like Jim Rumbaugh on harmonica and Randy Brown on guitar. All that music got stirred up and the next thing you know, we were whipping up a new batch of "Somebody Stole My Girl."

The Bayou Sara

2010-08-19T12:54:00.001-04:00

It was on the good old steamboat Delta Queen that we first met Missouri folksingers Cathy Barton and Dave Para. Most recently, Dave and Cathy shared the stage with us at a concert in Fairmont, W.Va., then a couple of weeks later, on the way home to Boonville, Mo., from Virginia, they stopped to spend the evening with us and shared a few tunes at the Wednesday night jam session. Cathy and Dave know a passel of riverboat songs. Here's a sweet one from Mary Wheeler's 1944 collection of roustabout tunes called "Steamboatin' Days."

Martha Campbell

2010-08-12T08:44:00.001-04:00

Fiddler and educator John Harrod once called the fiddle tune "Martha Campbell" the Kentucky national anthem. The haunting melody does seem to have a remarkable resonance for the fiddlers of the Bluegrass State. It was one of the first tunes recorded by the great Kentucky fiddler Doc Roberts back in 1925. Researchers believe Roberts learned it at least 10 years earlier from his mentor, the African-American fiddler Owen Walker of Madison County, Ky. The Flood's Joe Dobbs has been playing "Martha Campbell" for decades now, and recently when our banjo-picking buddy Judy Jones was visiting from Australia, she and Joe dusted off the tune again.

Ain't The Gravy Good

2010-08-05T08:44:00.001-04:00

Trumpeter Cootie Williams wrote and sang this novelty tune back in 1938 when it was recorded by Duke Ellington's orchestra. The Flood did it regularly five years ago or so, but only recently have we dusted it off again. We forgot how much fun it is to play. Now, our harmonicat Sam St. Clair often says about our racier songs that they're actually just "about food," but, hey, this one really is. Or, at least, we THINK it's about food...

Katy Dear

2010-07-29T09:13:00.001-04:00

It was international night at this week's Wednesday gathering. Veronica Smith, mother of Flood buddy Mike Smith, was visiting from England and taking in her first Flood jam session. And from Down Under, old friends Rod and Judy Jones were back in town and sittin' in. It's hard to believe that it's been more than 30 years since The Flood first met Rod and Judy when, on their first visit to the states, they ended up on stage with us in a concert at the Huntington Museum of Art. Back home in Australia, along with another old friend, Lindsay Mar, they play in the popular My-T-Fine Stringband. Here fiddlin' Joe Dobbs joins them on an old-time classic.

St. Louis Blues

2010-07-22T08:14:00.001-04:00

By the time of his death in 1958, W.C. Handy was earning upwards of $25,000 a year in royalties on his best-known tune, "St. Louis Blues." Not bad for a child that had been bringing home the bacon since its birth in 1914. Here's a spin around the block with Michelle Walker from a recent Wednesday night's jam session.