The first time we played this old folk song for Vanessa Coffman, she heard what seemed to be the ghost of another tune in it. While we were singing a lament from the dark foothills of America, Veezy’s sax was exploring some rich Highland roots from the other side of the sea. Listen here as two songs meet and merge, not only fulfilling the lyrics’ opening wish — “if I had wings…” — and also then taking flight for enchanted destinations. Yon bonnie banks, indeed.
Our newest Floodster, Veezy Coffman, was still busy being born about the time we were putting a version of this song on a Flood album a couple of decades ago. And, shoot, we’re not sure her folks were even born yet when we first started playing around with it. So I guess you can say this tune has some serious roots with us. Our hero, the phenomenal David Bromberg, composed it for his “Demon in Disguise” album back in 1972 as a tribute to his heroes. For instance, the key line -- "when I ask for a water, she brings me gasoline" -- is a shout-out to the blues legend Howlin' Wolf. So here, from last night’s Flood rehearsal, is a 2020 rendering of a David Bromberg special.
In these times of COVID, when we can get together for a rare rehearsal, we can’t meet in our traditional practice space at the Bowen house. Instead, masked, hand-washed and socially distanced, we gather after hours in the big room at Route 60 Music Co., which our bass player, the store’s co-owner Paul Callicoat, has so graciously opened to us. Now, one of the perks of practicing at Route 60 — besides seeing all those gorgeous guitars hanging on the walls for sale … oo oo, hey, think about this: Christmas is coming, and you can show the pickers in your family some serious love with a guitar or two from Route 60! … anyway, one of the OTHER perks of being at Route 60 is being greeted by Daisy, the West Virginia brown dog who rules that domain with a gentle paw. Daisy always seems happy to see us, but last night was even better than usual. When Sam, Paul, Michelle and Charlie launched in to the first tune, our take of Bruce Channel’s “Hey, Baby,” Daisy came running to us with her tail a-wagging. At first we figured she just misheard us and thought we were calling her name. Now, though, upon reflection we realize that she was telling us it’s high time we repurposed that tune. From now on we’ll be doing it as, “Hey, Hey, Daisy”!
We love it when fresh ears bring something so new to an old tune. Now, our newest Floodster Vanessa Coffman had never heard this old folk song until she started playing with us, but she quickly found the chords and the melody gave her plenty of stretching out room for some imaginative solos and some tasteful fills behind the vocals. Here, from a mini-jam session last week, Veezy finds all kinds of musical opportunities in this great old roustabout song said to be from the Ohio River Valley steamboat era.
There’s been a wide range of ages among the members of our band over the years, from 14 to 80, and we have a tradition of musical affinity between the oldest and youngest bandmates. For instance, a decade ago, we loved watching the bonds build between teenaged guitarist Jacob Scarr and septuagenarian fiddler Joe Dobbs. And now the tradition continues. When our newest Floodster Vanessa Coffman first started sitting in with us back in January, tribal elder Doug Chaffin immediately found a strong musical kinship. And now, 10 months later, those bonds are even stronger. For instance, listen to this moment from a recent rehearsal when the two of them gently complement each other’s intricate steps in an improvisational glide through a jazz standard. Here’s Doug’s guitar and Veezy’s tenor sax weaving in and out of “Misty.”
When Bob Dylan wrote this song 50 years ago, it was a matter of necessity. In the winter of ’69, he had arrived at the Columbia Records studio to record the great “Nashville Skyline” album having written only four of the songs he’d need to fill that record. So, over the next two days at the Ramada Inn where he was staying for the recording session, Bob wrote “Tonight I’ll be Staying Here with You,” a piece that worked so well it ended up being the beautiful final cut of the album. In many ways, it was the signature tune for that whole project. The Flood started playing around with the song back in the ‘70s when Rog Samples and Charlie worked out this particular arrangement, and it seems to come back into our collective consciousness ever few decades or so. Here’s a ride we all took on that Dylan train at last night’s rehearsal.
There are lots of stories about the great jazz songwriter Fats Waller. Our favorite is about the time he was kidnapped off the streets of Chicago. Now, it was 1926 and Fats was just leaving a gig in the early morning when four men grabbed him, bundled him into a car and sped off to a hotel. Ordered inside and, with a gun to his back, he was pushed toward a piano and told to play. It was only then that Fats realized that HE was the “surprise gift” at Al Capone’s birthday party! Now that is a command performance. It was three years later that Fats — who copyrighted more than 400 songs in his oh-so-brief lifetime (he died at just 39!) — wrote our favorite Waller composition. Here’s our 2020 rendition of “Ain’t Misbehavin’” from a recent Flood rehearsal.
