Dead Cat on the Line

Last night, as we were preparing the tunes we’ll share this weekend in our duties as the house band for the monthly Route 60 Saturday Night show, we got to thinking about other Saturday nights we’ve known. You know, we love to tell how Grandma had a lot of Sunday morning songs that she’d learned in church, but that Grandpa had some Saturday night songs that he’d learned some place else, like maybe in that juke joint down on the river … oh, you know the kind of loud, smoky room where a couple of good ol’ boys are strumming guitars or maybe a big ol’ friendly girl is pounding a barrelhouse piano. Here’s a tune from that Saturday night tradition, one we learned from the 1930s recordings of the original Hokum Boys. Remember, it’s Route 60 Saturday Night, THIS Saturday Night at Route 60 Music Co., 60 Peyton Street in Barboursville. Our guest artists are singer/songwriters Joe Lambiotte and Ally Fletcher. Admission is $5, and this month all proceeds go to Golden Girls Group Home of Ceredo, WV. Come on for a good time for a good cause!

Walkin' After Midnight

We in The Flood have always been huge fans of filmmaker Ken Burns, and we absolutely loved his latest PBS series on country music. Now, while The Flood itself has never claimed to play country music, we were thrilled that the breadth of Ken Burns’ series extended to cover some of our all-time musical heroes, from Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family to Charlie Poole, Uncle Dave Macon, Johnny Cash and, of course, our perennial sweetheart, Patsy Cline. For long time, we’ve had a Patsy Cline anthem in our repertoire, ever since Michelle Lewis recommended we give it a shot more than a dozen years ago. Here, from a rehearsal just last month, is our latest take on “Walkin’ After Midnight.”

Amelia's Waltz

The new CD we’re hoping to bring out before the end of the year will be our first all-instrumental album. (We’re thinking we’ll call it “Speechless.” Yeah, we do get a charge out of ourselves…) Anyway, one of the formative ideas of this new project is to explore the extraordinary narrative power of some of these beautiful melodies. They’re like little three-minute movies in which you are free to make up your own imaginative story. Here’s a case in point: a few years ago, Doug started noodling around with this gorgeous Bob McQuillen composition, and we all just fell in love with it. Well, here, from a recent rehearsal, are Doug and Paul trading leads on McQuillen’s evocative “Amelia’s Waltz.” See what movie you make in your mind with this one!

Sunny Side of (Capitol) Street

We first played at Taylor Books in Charleston about 20 years ago and we’ve loved coming back regularly even since, partly because it reminds us of our coffeehouse roots, but mostly because it’s simply a wonderful venue with happy, friendly patrons. Playing Taylor Books is like coming to the best reunion ever. That’s why we’re looking forward to Saturday night and being back in Charleston for another Taylor Books gig. And here’s a tune from last night’s rehearsal that we’ve got on tap for Saturday night’s show. Remember, we’ll be on the sunny side of Capitol Street — 226 Capitol Street — at Taylor Books in beautiful downtown Charleston, this Saturday night, Sept. 28. The show starts at 7:30. Come on out and party with The Flood!

Don't Get Around Much Anymore

We’re so excited that September is here, because September means we’re rolling out a brand new season of the 90-minute music variety show, Route 60 Saturday Night, at which The Flood is privileged to be the regular monthly house band. The next show is this Saturday night, 7 p.m., at Route 60 Music Co. in Barboursville. At our rehearsal last night, we worked up this tune — our rendition of a wonderful old Duke Ellington composition — to include in The Flood’s portion of the show.

My Dear Companion

We lost a dear friend this week. Margaret Ray passed away at her home in Greenbottom, WV, after a difficult bout of sickness. She just turned 64 last spring. Margaret came into our lives, gosh, 40 years ago, at those crazy music parties where The Flood born. She was the beautiful, young hot guitar player who wowed us all on those smoky nights in a Huntington Southside living room. And Margaret came back into our lives just a few years ago when she and Joe Dobbs renewed their close friendship. Joe even got her playing music again, and he and Margaret took long, memorable road trips, from Florida to Alaska and other points along the way. Those good times made the last years of Joe’s life and Margaret’s a sweet thing for us in the Family Flood to watch from the sidelines. Well, Margaret was much on our minds last night as we sat down to rehearse. Rest in peace, love.

Dink's Song

When it comes to movies, we are, of course, devout Coen brothers fans, starting with their masterpiece, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” from two decades ago. There Joel and Ethan Coen incorporated a wise and loving treatment of American roots music of the 1920s and ‘30s, a period obviously dear to The Flood’s heart as well. More recently, the Coens turned again to folk music, this time in an extraordinary 2013 film called “Inside Llewyn Davis,” set in one winter’s week in 1961 Greenwich Village. A highlight of that funny, sad movie is when Oscar Isaac, playing the title role, performs a moody rendition of “Fare Thee Well,” also known as “Dink’s Song.” That moment especially resonated with all folk music fans, because most of us learned that song from the 1960s recordings of the late folk genius Dave Van Ronk, whose work seems to have inspired this film in the first place. Dear Dave. They didn’t call him “the mayor of MacDougal Street for nothing. Here’s The Flood’s take on “Dink’s Song” from a recent rehearsal.