More from "The Jacob Evening"

It was waaaay too cold to ask folks to come out last night, so we had to cancel our regular weekly rehearsal. It's always disappointing when we can't have the music, but this does give us a chance to serve up a second helping from our last get-together. We had a lot of great comments about our Christmas show. You may recall that we were able to have a little reunion with guitarist Jacob Scarr, who was home from college for the holidays. A couple of nights before Christmas, Jacob, Randy Hamilton and Charlie Bowen were joined by Randy Brown, Jim Rumbaugh and Karen Combs for a great evenings of laughs and tunes. So, for everyone who's asked for a little more of that "Jacob Evening," here's a late Christmas present.

Merry Christmas from The 1937 Flood

This is a special extended holiday issue of The 1937 Flood podcast. Christmas is a time of reunion and we were thrilled last night that Floodster Emeritus Jacob Scarr -- back in town on Christmas break from the college he attends in Colorado -- brought his guitar to sit in with us. He and Randy Hamilton and I were just getting started, when other friends started arriving to enjoy some time with Jacob. Along came Randy Brown with his big old Gibson L-5 and through the other door came blues harmonica great Jim Rumbaugh and his friend Karen Combs, a lady who knows a thing or two about the blues herself. Merry Christmas, folks. Our gift to you is a sampling of this very special evening!

If You Lose Your Money

Nobody ever did the blues better than Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Back in the late 1950s they recorded an incredible album for Smithsonian Folkways called "Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry Sing," which included a number of original compositions, including this one, a song we often use to open or close a rehearsal session, because it's just so much fun.

Musical Conversations

People play music for all kinds of reasons, in all kinds of places. For us, some of the best times come when we're just sitting around playing and listening to each other. It's a kind of musical conversation that sometimes reaches beyond mere words. Last night was a case in point. We hadn't seen each other for a few weeks, and it was good to just sit down and catch up. Want to eavesdrop? Here's a sample.

Remembering Ramblin' Boy Bob McCoy

Today's the birthday of one of our favorite people. Bob McCoy would have been 71 today, but we lost him -- gosh, could it be more than four years ago now? At last night's rehearsal, we paused for a Bob Moment, singing his favorite song. These days, we never do Tom Paxton's great "Ramblin' Boy" without thinking Bob McCoy's smile that lit up the room. Bob, here's to you, buddy.

Revisiting Peggy Day

"Peggy Day" is one of the stepchildren of Bob Dylan's great songbook. The tune's only claim to fame is that it was the B-side when Bob released "Lay, Lady, Lay" as a single in the summer of '69. Unlike a lot of Dylan lyrics, "Peggy Day" has no intriguing back story or legend that we've ever heard. Dylan probably just tossed it off as filler when he was finishing up the great "Nashville Skyline" album all those years ago. But the song has always been a favorite for The Flood, especially in recent years, as Michelle Lewis has been perfecting her wonderful vocal harmony part. Last night everybody took a turn on the tune in a particularly happy moment of the very happy rehearsal.

Remembering J.P.

The great fiddler J.P. Fraley died three years ago, but still is very much an influential part of our Appalachian world, and The Flood has always felt fortunate to have a direct connection to J.P. through Doug Chaffin. Doug played and traveled with J.P. and his wife Annadeen for decades and is a walking encyclopedia of J.P. tunes and stories. Doug played on J.P.'s 1998 twin fiddle CD with Betty Vornbrock, and at a quiet moment at last night's rehearsal, Doug took up his guitar to play this remembrance of a classic tune from that album, the beautiful "Ook-Pik Waltz."