Jam Logs, the Podcast of The 1937 Flood

Randy Hamilton and Paul Martin have been good friends for a long, long time. And they’ve been friends to the rest of us for quite a spell too. Years before each of them joined the band, they used to drop in to play at the joyous jam sessions at the Bowen house here in Huntington. In fact, recently, while listening to recordings of some of those jam sessions made, gosh, more than seven years ago, Charlie came across a beautiful moment when Randy and Paul offered their rendition of this sweet Vince Gill composition. So, last night he asked them if they would revisit that tune for us, and to say we were blown away by the results, well, that’s an understatement. Listen to this and you’ll understand why you can count on “Go Rest High on That Mountain” having a regular spot on the set list on Flood shows from now on.

It’s always a treat for the band when folks step up to dance to one of our tunes. A few weeks ago, when we played for the 80th anniversary of Jim’s Steak & Spaghetti House here in Huntington, two of our old friends — Marshall University math professors Bonita Lawrence and Clayton Brooks — came out for the fun, and when Doug Chaffin struck up an old traditional waltz, the pair we call “the dancin’ doctors” favored us with some lovely steps in front of the bandstand. Well, Bonnie and Clayton were on the road and couldn’t join us at last weekend’s “Route 60 Saturday Night,” but in their honor, Doug Chaffin and Paul Martin did a little encore of the number. Here’s that moment from last weekend’s show. Incidentally, at the start of this track, I manage to misidentify the mountain in the song’s title. This is “Blue Mountain Waltz.”

We’re getting ready for this weekend’s next big Route 60 Saturday Night show, and since it will be the eve — uh, eve-eve — of West Virginia Day, we’re planning a lot of special tunes to wish our Mountain Mama a happy 155th. Come on out and join the fun, starting at 7 p.m. at Route 60 Music Co., 60 Peyton St., in Barboursville. The guest artists this month are singer-songwriters Mike Bennett and Paul Callicoat. Admission is $5 and all proceeds this month go to aid the good work of Huntington’s Harmony House. For more information, visit the website at Route60SaturdayNight.com.

Often here on the podcast we share tunes from the very end of a rehearsal, usually making the point that we once again we just didn’t want the evening to end (aw, play one more, guys!) Well, here’s something from the other end of the nights these days, a bit of the vibe at the very start of a session. Recorded a few weeks ago, as this track starts you’ll hear that Doug, Randy and I are already in our seats, waiting for the rest of the band to arrive. Now, Sam is out of town when this was recorded, so he couldn’t make the gathering that night, but the harmonica section is ably manned by our friend Jim Rumbaugh, who has walked in just minutes before the track begins. Listen closely as the song — a cover of Jackson Browne’s “These Days” — goes on and you’ll hear the backdoor open and Paul arrive. We keep the song going so he can be part of it. About four minutes in, you’ll hear Paul get to his seat at the table with his mandolin, say hello and then take the song home with a sweet solo. By the way, speaking of songs, we’ve added a new feature you might enjoy on The Flood website: The Song Index. With it you can easily browse and listen to specific tunes from the hundreds shared on the podcast, recorded at shows or preserved in the band’s dusty archives. Looking for that crazy version of “Ditty Wah Ditty” you remember from a jam session eight years ago or so? We got it. Want Michelle’s latest rendition “You Don’t Know Me” from just a few weeks ago? Got that too. To check it out, visit the website (1937flood.com) and click “Song Index” on any page.

We’re hero-worshippers in The Flood, and we’ve got a BUNCH of musical heroes. Often our tributes to them come on the spur of the moment. For instance, about a month ago, we were wrapping up a rehearsal — at the start of this track, you can hear us saying our goodbyes — but, in fact, Doug, Sam, Randy and I just didn’t want the evening to end yet, so we launched into one last tune, an old spiritual that we learned from a Lightnin’ Hopkins recording. Now, Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins recorded "Jesus, Will Come By Here" back in 1952, but the song went largely unnoticed for, well, 20 years. Then in 1972, the Cicely Tyson/Paul Winfield movie, "Sounder," used the old recording in the film’s soundtrack, calling it "Needed Time," and that's the first time we heard it. Sure, our version is a bit more raucous than Lightnin's original, but it does capture the joy of those weekly Kumbaya moments with the Family Flood.

This Saturday night we’re heading to Charleston for a show at one of our all-time favorite venues in the capital city, the wonderful Taylor Books, 226 Capitol St., and we’re bringing with us our latest experiment in sing-alongs. Now, The Flood doesn’t usually assign homework, but in this case, we’ll make an exception. If you are planning to join us for the fun at Taylor Books this Saturday night, you might want to study this audio track. It comes from our set at last weekend’s Route 60 Saturday Night show, and it will help you get your hey-lawdy-mama-mama, hey-lawdy papa-papa’s in order for the evening! Hey, whaddaya know! It’s our first Flood study guide! Remember, we’re at Taylor Books this Saturday night. The good times start at 7:30.

As we gear up for the latest edition of the monthly Route 60 Saturday Night show this weekend (at Route 60 Music Co., 60 Peyton St. in Barboursville), we have to prepare to go on stage without our regular harmonicat. Sam St. Clair is heading north to Alaska for a memory quest with his parents, and we wish them bon voyage. Meanwhile, The Flood’s good buddy Jim Rumbaugh has graciously agreed to sit in with us on harps for Saturday’s show. At last night’s Flood rehearsal, Jim rocked us with one of his original compositions, which we expect to bring to Saturday night’s show. Here’s Jim’s “It Don’t Work Like That!” By the way, our guest artists for this month’s show are singers Emmy Davis and Paula Davis Stewart. The fun starts at 7 p.m. Admission is $5, and this month, all proceeds go to the Tri-State Aids Task Force. Come on out — good times for a good cause.

We’re dredging up all our good water music — and a band called The Flood oughta have a bunch of river songs, right? — for a show we’re doing Friday night in Point Pleasant, WV, at a fundraiser for the good folks at one of our favorite places, the Point Pleasant River Museum. If you’re in the area, come on out for a great dinner at 6:30, then stay for our show at 7:30. The event will be at the First Church of God Ministry Center, 2401 Jefferson Avenue in beautiful Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

For some of us, this time of year is a little bittersweet. For instance, Pamela and Charlie spend a lot of time at Marshall University nowadays, so they get to know many bright young adults throughout their college careers. And then each spring, the Bowens watch their young friends graduate and head out into the world to start the next chapter of their lives. For the West Virginia natives among them, that diploma often comes with a challenge and a choice. Do I leave for higher mountains and wider skies, or do I stay in the green hills and the dark valleys that nurtured me? Here’s a tune from Michelle at last night’s rehearsal, a lovely Colleen Anderson composition that comes with a catch in its throat.

One of the many things we love about being the house band each month at the new Route 60 Saturday Night musical variety shows is that the gig invites us to think in new ways about the songs we choose for the evening. To put it plainly, we don’t want anything we play as the house band to compete with or to distract from the material being performed that that month’s guest artists. For instance, if a scheduled guest is planning to play jazzy pieces, we want to come back some something different, maybe some simple folk songs. On the other hand, if the guest star is offering a set of sweet ballads, we might follow him or her with a couple of raucous jug band tunes. At last weekend’s show, the challenge for The Flood was to make a smooth transition between the two guest star sets, from the wonderful, full-throated blues stylings of the up and coming Emily Kinner to the down-home country sounds of the legendary Rob McNurlin. Our choice? Well, as Joe Dobbs used to tell us, when in doubt, check in with Benny Goodman. So, here — in a track from the show — is the song we played, Billy Hill’s composition, “The Glory of Love,” introduced by Benny Goodman’s orchestra in 1936.