Norman's Smiles

It’s no big secret, but musicians usually play much better when a devoted listener is within earshot, and no one is a more devoted listener than our old friend Norman Davis. Whenever the weather outside isn’t frightful, we can almost always count on Norman slipping in the back door and settling into his reserved seat, that big blue comfy chair in the corner of our rehearsal room. And a heck of a barometer is our Norman: One look at his face tells us if our work on a tune is paying off, and he was all smiles last night during Michelle’s latest rendering of the 1945 Buddy Johnson classic, “Since I Fell for You.” In fact, if you listen closely you’ll hear that the last words on this tracks are Norman’s.

Starting the Conversation...

On rehearsal nights, we’re often so eager to get started that the first tune might begin rolling before everyone gets set up to play. Here’s a wonderful example. On this particular evening, when we started at the crack of 7:30, Paul and Charlie are in their seats already as you hear Michelle and her mother coming in the back door while Doug is arriving in the front. Sam’s on hand, but is still getting out of his coat. Randy’s here, but, as the tune starts, he hasn’t quite got his bass hooked up yet. Notice how we just keep the song going longer than usual just so Doug get his fiddle bow rosined up and jump in for a chorus or two. By the end of the song, everybody’s in place and ready to rock.

Misty .... and Warm!

Isn’t it interesting how sometimes on a cold winter’s day, a song can warm you up like a roaring fire? Michelle warmed up the room with this tune toward of the evening recently. Here’s the Erroll Garner standard, “Misty,” with stellar supporting solos by Paul and Doug.

The Cabin Fever Breaks!

The cabin fever finally broke last night! After weeks of days in the teens and brutal nights in the single digits — and even the heartbreak of having to cancel a much-anticipated gig because of ice and snow — yesterday the wicked winter relented a little, and last night the entire Family Flood at last could come again for the first time since a deep and dark December. You know, few things are more healing that old friends sitting in a circle playing and singing together, conjuring up a right special light.

Jacob Brings Back Some Summer Heat

Could it be that a decade has passed since Jacob Scarr started playing with The Flood? Well, let’s see — he was just 14 when he first unpacked his guitar at a Flood rehearsal; now he’s midway through his second year of law school, so, yeah, that amazing mathematics is apparently right. Nowadays, we don’t get to see Jacob more than a couple of times a year — he’s pretty busy with his work in Boulder, Colorado — but whenever he gets back to his Ohio Valley home, it is an event. Thinking back to 2007 when we met him, it was his solos on one particular song that told us this young man had sometime very special to contribute to the Family Flood, and it’s a tune we trot out again every time we meet. Now, last night was an especially UN-summer-like evening, with the temperature hovering near 10 degrees, but Youngblood’s work took this old favorite from a smoldering ember to a warm and roaring blaze. Here the 2018 edition of Gershwin’s “Summertime” with Floodster Emeritus Jacob Scarr.

We're Coming to Taylor Books This Saturday Night!

We’re rolling into Charleston this weekend to play at our favorite capitol city venue, Taylor Books, this Saturday night, and at last night’s rehearsal, we polished up some tunes we want to share, including the craziest sing-along you’re likely to ever hear. Uh-huh — Hey lawdy, mama-mama, hey lawdy, papa-papa, talk about your sing-along! Remember, come on out to Taylor Books for our New Year’s Eve-Eve party, Saturday, Dec. 30, at 226 Capitol Street in beautiful downtown Charleston! It’s all starts at 7:30 p.m.!

Love Letter from Liverpool!

We got a delightful love letter from Liverpool this week! A gentleman named Colin Maddocks — who has the simply perfect stage name of “Grateful Fred”! — dropped us a line to tell us how much he and his bandmates like what we do in The Flood. Colin is in several bands there in Liverpool — the Irish band HotFoot and a ukulele-enriched ensemble called (you’ll love this!) “Grateful Fred’s Ukelear Deterrent” — and they recently had the great 1960s jug band superstar Jim Kweskin perform there during his mini-tour of the UK. Now, that’s how Colin and company found The Flood; while searching for other covers of Kweskin’s classic tune, “Jug Band Music,” he came upon our website and related online goodies, including this podcast. “I love the music you make and the sound you get,” Colin wrote us. “And to think you've been playing together so long is wonderful. We're 4 years old as The Deterrents, so we've a long way to go, but we rehearse on a weekly basis like yourselves and, apart from the music, the friendships we've made are a big bonus.” We couldn’t agree more — and so to celebrate our new transatlantic friendship, here’s the current version of the tune that brought us all together, a fresh batch of “Jug Band Music” cooked up during last night’s Floodishness. Oh and by the way, if you’d like to learn more about the good work that Colin and his crew do in the UK, check out his website, www.gratefulfred.co.uk. Keep on picking, guys!