Jam Logs, the Podcast of The 1937 Flood

We love how this track captures the go-with-the-flow nature of our weekly rehearsals. As you'll hear, Michelle is already wailing on her lovely rendition of Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight" when Sam arrives. Listen closely and you'll hear him walk in and take his seat and then hear Charlie tell him the key we're working out of -- D -- and then a minute later, after Paul's sweet chorus, Sam's playing a solo.

One of our favorite local venues is the beautiful and historic B&O depot at Heritage Station in downtown Huntington, and we get to play there again this Saturday afternoon. It's all part of a special day of music and crafts in support of the Cabell-Huntington Convention and Visitors Bureau. Now, our good friends in the Shadowshaker Band are playing there from 11 to 1 -- come early to hear them -- and then hang around for The Flood from 1 to 3. The address is the corner of 11th Street and 3rd Avenue, and the day's music is free. Here's a sample of the tunes we're working up for the afternoon, just …. well, because…

In the genealogy of great songs, "Roxanna Waltz" has royal bloodlines indeed. Bill Monroe wrote it. Kentucky fiddler Kenny Baker made it famous on his "Master Fiddler" album. Our Doug Chaffin learned it from his life-long friend, the late J.P. Fraley. When Doug and Paul Martin tried on the tune last night, it was a special moment, which we're happy to share with you.

Back when The Flood was just getting started more than 40 years ago, we were amazed to find that one of the best new songs about West Virginia was recorded by a North Carolina band, the wonderful Red Clay Ramblers. Well, when we dug a little deeper, we found out why. "Twisted Laurel," the title track of The Ramblers' third album (released in 1976), was written by none other than Tommy Thompson who was born and raised just a few miles away from us in St. Albans, West Virginia, near Charleston. Well, Tommy passed away 13 years ago, but he's still lovingly remembered here in The Mountain State. In fact, he was posthumously inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2010. And his great composition, "Twisted Laurel," will always be a Flood favorite.

We had a houseful last night -- old friends and some first-time listeners -- and that always turns the weekly rehearsal into a party. It's also when we reach for the old songs that make us smile, tunes that are as comfortable as an old shoe and let us sit back and enjoy each other's company, like this 1929 Frank Stokes composition that blues legend Pink Anderson made famous enough for Jim Kweskin and Ry Cooder to later record it as well. "I Got Mine." Hope you got yours.

We're often thinking about the great singers and songwriters who have come out of West Virginia and almost always our first thought is of Billy Edd Wheeler, the phenomenal singer/songwriter/writer/artist who was born in Whitesville, in neighboring Boone County 83 years ago. Billy Edd's many tunes include "Jackson," with which Johnny Cash and June Carter scored a Grammy in 1968, "The Reverend Mr. Black," which was a hit for The Kingston Trio in 1963, "Coming of the Roads," which Judy Collins made famous in 1965 and "Coward of the County," which even inspired a 1981 TV movie of the same name. But our all-time favorite Billy Edd song is one that's embedded deep in West Virginia culture: "Coal Tattoo."

On his way home from a fancy do last night, Floodster Emeritus Chuck Romine dropped by the Flood rehearsal to show off the ukulele that literally saved his life 65 years ago. Listen to Chuck tell the story himself. After that, of course, Chuck had to sit in with us for the rest of the night. Here he joins on the last tune of the evening, "Wish I could shimmy like my sister Kate!"

It's been a tough four and half months for the Family Flood. In the space of 20 weeks, we've lost two of the four founding members of our band, the eldest and the youngest. Back in September, fiddler Joe Dobbs passed away and now last weekend our dear friend and bandmate Roger Samples ended his five-year battle with cancer just a month after his 66th birthday. Last night was The Flood's first weekly gathering since getting that sad news and much of the evening revolved around stories about our old companion and about the songs we learned with Rog during his decade with us in those earliest days.

Doug Chaffin is having such a good time with his new guitar and it's inspiring us to revisit tunes we've not played in a while -- and others we never really worked out. For instance, a week or so ago, Doug started noodling around with Erroll Garner's perfect jazz standard, "Misty," then Michelle Lewis jumped in on the vocal and the rest of us just happily went along for the ride.

Sometimes you just have to wait, you know? We're always on the lookout for great ballads with which we can feature Michelle Lewis' wonderful voice, and for years we've wanted to do the Willie Nelson classic, "Crazy," which, of course, the great Patsy Cline made famous in 1962. Well, for some reason the song just didn't seem to want to become a Flood tune …. until last night. Ah, it was one of those evenings when it finally started coming together.