St. Louis Blues

So, the story goes that 19-year-old William Christopher Handy was walking the dark streets of St. Louis one night when he met a woman who was very publicly mourning her husband’s abrupt absence. That in itself perhaps was not news, but young Bill was stopped in his tracks by what the woman said next. “My man,” she cried, “’s got a heart like a rock cast in the sea!” Well, the rest, as they say, is history. About a dozen years later, a now very grown-up W.C. Handy would publish a song that would change American music, a tune that some today call “the jazzman’s ‘Hamlet.’” Handy’s composition would memorialize that summer night in the city, right from the opening line: “I hate to see that evening sun go down.” Now, The Flood’s been knowing this song for decades. We did it as an instrumental for many years, but it took on a whole new life when Michelle Lewis claimed it for her own, these days making it seem brand new every time she rolls it out. Oh, and incidentally, it was new last night for some of us in the room. The evening marked Paul Callicoat’s first session with us sitting in on bass. Listen here as he makes memories for all of us with Michelle’s “Saint Louis Blues,” along with sweet solos by Doug Chaffin and Paul Martin.