Preparing for the Diamond Teeth Mary Festival

Preparing for a gig this Saturday night, we're trotting out a lot of the old stuff -- especially the jug band tunes -- but we're also polishing up some of our newer tunes, like this one, which will also be on the new CD when it comes out this fall. Bob Dylan's "Down in the Flood" seems especially appropriate for us. And about the gig -- we're pleased to be part of this year's Diamond Teeth Mary Blues and Arts Festival. The Flood plays from 7 to 8 Saturday night at Heritage Station in downtown Huntington. Come on out -- we'll have a ball!

Happy Birthday, Joe Dobbs!

Last night, on the eve of his 79th birthday, Joe Dobbs was where he is most Wednesday nights, sitting down with the people who have known him more than half his life -- his Family Flood. And my, but Joe was in fine form and rarin' to go, as you'll hear in these two tracks from last night's rehearsal.  In the first one -- an old jug band tune we're dusting off for an upcoming gig -- listen to how Brother Dobbs takes a couple of extra helpings when the solos are being passed around. Then at the end of the evening, Michelle offered up a special message for Joe that let us all wish him a happy birthday.

I Got Mine

The Family Flood is back from its month-long break and getting ready for the next gig. We're so pleased that we've been invited to be part of the 4th annual Diamond Teeth Mary Blues and Arts Festival, which will be held right here in Huntington, WV, later this month. In preparation for the show, we're putting together a set of old and new jug band tunes, along with some material perhaps not usually heard at blues fests. For instance, here's a Frank Stokes composition from the late 1920s that was recorded blues giants from Pink Anderson to Jim Kweskin to Ry Cooder. We like the tune so much, it'll also be featured on our new CD, which will be released this fall. Here's a take from last night's Flood rehearsal.

St. Louis Blues

The arrangements of our tunes evolve, and here's a case in point. We've been playing around with W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues" for a while now and honestly, it just wasn't gelling. At last night's rehearsal, we ran through the tune pretty much the way we've done it all along, and then Charlie got up to refill the folks' coffee cups. When he came back into the room, Michelle Walker had had a new idea about the song. She suggested we should try it again and this time…. well…. hey, let's just let Michelle tell it.

White Rose Waltz

Doug Chaffin is one sneaky character. Many an evening at the weekly rehearsal, we'll be chatting between tunes -- telling stories and thinking of what to work on next -- and quietly Doug will start picking something on his guitar. At first it just blends into the room's chatter, but soon it's captivated everyone. Listen to this track from last night's rehearsal and hear how Doug's rendering of the old J.P. Fraley standard "White Rose Waltz" works its charms. After a few dozen notes, the room goes quiet. Next you can hear Michelle Walker humming along, looking for a harmony part. (Maybe for a future outing with the tune,we'll find some words for her. If you know any, give us a holler.) Next Doug nods to Joe Dobbs, who takes a turn for a beautiful fiddle solo in the middle before handing it back to Doug. If you don't believe in magic, you probably have never played music.

Un Canadien Errant

David and Susie Peyton's son, Davy, is town this week and when he dropped by last night's rehearsal, The Flood got a bit nostalgic, reaching for tunes we started playing back when Davy was just a baby -- like this beautiful old French tune that we learned from the great folk duo, Ian & Sylvia. Now, honestly, being proud products of these Appalachian hills, we're a little shaky and self-conscious about our French pronunciation. In fact, whenever we play this song in a show, we always preface it by asking if anyone in the audience speaks French. If anyone raises a hand, we point and say, "For you, it's in German!"

I Have Seen Snows that Fell In May....

Last week we had one of the strangest gigs we've had in a long time. After days of temperatures in the 70s and 80s, the thermometer plunged as we were driving north to Fairmont, West Virginia, for the Friday night concert. It was down to the 50s as we took the stage at the amphitheater at Prickett's Fort State Park and by the time the show was over 90 minutes later, the mercury had dropped to 45. That along with a stiff west wind made for a fairly frigid Flood. But it also made for some laughs. For instance, we've been singing the song, "No Ash Will Burn" for a some time now -- in fact, it's featured on our latest CD -- and, to be honest, we hadn't thought much about the lyrics for a while. But Friday night, as we were shriving on stage and Charlie Bowen sang the opening lines -- "I have seen rain on a cloudless day / I have seen snows that fell in May" -- Dave Peyton leaned over and said, "Damn straight!" We cracked up and so did the audience. In this cut, we're rehearsing the tune a few days before the big Fairmont Freeze.