Ashland, Ky., Here We Come This Sunday Afternoon!

The Flood's fixin' to roll into Ashland, Ky., this Sunday afternoon to play at "The Picnic on Judd Plaza" downtown. We'll also be helping out with a fundraiser for the community's remarkable "Clean Start" program, which has come to the rescue of so many down and out folks in these tough times. And listen, if weather doesn't cooperate, c'mon down anyway -- the picnic will just move indoors, so don't let a little rain keep you away. The band will be on hand from 2 to 5 p.m., playing old Flood standards, but also some new things in our repertoire, maybe like this one from the American songbook, featuring our star vocalist, Miss Michelle Walker.

4th Street Mess Around

A few years back, we started messing around with "4th Street Mess-Around," a 1930s classic by our heroes, The Memphis Jug Band. But somewhere along the way, the tune got dropped from the practice list. Well, at the rehearsal earlier this week, we dusted it off again for another try. Now, you tell it's a work in progress, because as the track begins, we're still schooling each other on the chords.

Sentimental Journey (The Maiden Voyage)

Right now, we're preparing for a show this Friday night at Woodlands Retirement Community up the hill from us here in our hometown of Huntington, West Virginia, and we've been thinking about the music that folks there might like. At last night's rehearsal, Michelle Walker suggested "Sentimental Journey," a tune that Joe Dobbs has been doing his solo performances for years. Now, of course, the spirit of this weekly podcast is to share The Flood's not-ready-for-primetime moments -- that is, songs still in development -- and here's a prime example. This is literally the first time the band as a whole has tried this tune and obviously we have some … uh, opportunities. The harmonies need tightening, we need to work out better cues for the solos and smooth out the accompaniment, but for now, I love the enthusiasm everyone's bringing to the song. And  it may be fun in a year or so to look back and  see how the tune has evolved and mellowed with practice. But first, a voyage of discovery. All aboard! 

The Coffee Rush

The drink of choice at The Flood's weekly rehearsals is Community Coffee from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. But there is a downside. After a few cups of this strong, rich, dark brew, the tunes tend to get a bit livelier. There's a standing joke that after Charlie's had a coupla mugs of joe, he starts kicking the tunes off too fast. Here's a case in point. We don't usually do "Blue Moon" at such a lively clip as this. But, hey, some of us kinda like it like this -- it's got a nice kick, though we're not sure you'd wanna dance to it. Oh, see what you think.

A Taste of Honey, Take 1

During a break at a gig last summer, our good friend Wendell Dobbs dropped by the bandstand and said, "Hey, I know a great song for The Chick Singer -- 'A Taste of Honey.'" As soon as he said, our eyes lit up. Yes indeed. It's a wonderful ballad that's been recorded by everyone from Sarah Vaughan to the early Beatles. Our Michelle Walker had never really tried the song before, but she was game to give a go and last night, at one of The Flood's occasional vocal-only rehearsals, we tested the waters. As you'll hear in this track, Randy and I are still figuring out some harmony parts, but Michelle is already nailing the lead. In the months ahead, this podcast may be revisiting the tune as we introduce it to the rest of band, but for now, here it is: "A Taste of Honey, Take 1."

A Flood Teaching Moment

These days the weekly rehearsals are largely about figuring out what tunes we'd like to put on the next Flood CD which we hope to start working on later this year. That means checking out new songs but also revisiting pieces we used to play a lot but some reason have let slip away. A case in point is Dave Franklin's classic fiddle tune, "Cincinnati Rag." It was a regular of ours at gigs 10 years ago or so, but it never ended up on a CD. At last night's practice, Joe Dobbs brought it out again. This resulted in an obvious teaching moment -- you can hear us discussing the chords as Joe lays down the melody -- but by the end, everyone was in agreement: this tune needs to be back on the regular set list.

Doug and Randy Trade Places for the Evening

The Flood has a lot more options in instrumentation these days. Doug Chaffin can play mandolin and guitar, even fiddle, not to mention his superb work on the upright bass. And our newest Floodster, Randy Hamilton, usually plays bass these days, but also is an excellent lead guitarist. Last night, we decided to mix things up a bit -- we asked Doug to bring his bass and Randy to bring his six-string. The results were memorable -- but hey, judge for yourself. Here Michelle Walker leads us through Gershwin's "Summertime."