Jam Logs, the Podcast of The 1937 Flood

Lately, we've got our Doug Chaffin returning to his roots. Doug's been making music in the Tri-State Area for more than 60 years, starting out in great young rock 'n' roll bands of the 1950s. Over last couple of decades, Doug has played all manner of instruments with The Flood -- from guitar and fiddle to upright bass and mandolin -- and just recently he bought a sweet little Paul Reed Smith guitar from our friend Glen Perkins over in Kentucky. Well, now, Doug wailing on that solid body electric lets us seriously channel 1958. Check this out.

Glenn Frey was much on our minds last night as we sat down for our weekly rehearsal. Like everyone, we were stunned and saddened by the death of The Eagles' co-founder. In fact, one of Glenn Frey's first hit singles with The Eagles -- the Jack Tempchin composition, "Peaceful Easy Feeling" -- was among the first tunes The Flood ever tackled. Now, a year before The Flood came into being, Roger Samples and David Peyton had already worked up a sweet rendition of the song, which around that time was playing on the radio every 15 minutes or so. Then a year or so later, when Dave and Rog came together with Joe Dobbs and Charlie Bowen to form The Flood, "Peaceful Easy Feeling" was naturally a regular on the set list. Well, neither Rog nor Dave nor Joe was in the room last night, but Randy and Sam and Doug and Charlie dusted off that fine old song, thinking of them, and especially of Mr. Frey, whose music was so much a part of our growing up.

The weather kept us from getting together for a practice session last night. That's always disappointing, but here at the podcast, that does afford us an opportunity to check the files for a number from an earlier session. Like this one -- a wistful old tune that somehow seems just right for these long winter nights.

After a springlike December -- here in The Valley, it was in the 70s on Christmas Day -- winter this week seriously reasserted itself, and the plunge in temperatures was ever on our minds at the rehearsal last night. There was grumbling about scraping car windows and changing furnace filters. So it's no wonder that in the middle of things, we found ourselves reaching out to the Brothers Gershwin for a little summertime respite.

The Force was definitely with us last night. Our numbers were way down. Because of the holidays and other things, half the band couldn't make it, but those who did show up also stepped up. Sam St. Clair and his harmonica handled most of the solos. Michelle Lewis and Charlie Bowen took on the vocals and our own Jedi master, Randy Hamilton, did double duty on vocals and bass solos. All in all it was a stellar evening.

Well, this is Tuesday, our usual rehearsal night, but last-minute holiday preparations have many our members too busy to pick, so we're taking the night off. But here on the podcast we can still observe the winter solstice with a tune from a session several weeks ago. As you may recall, a dear friend, Floodster Emeritus Jacob Scarr, was home from Colorado recently to have Thanksgiving with friends and family here, and we had a delightful evening of music with him. Many a Dylan tune was played, including this seldom-covered number that now seems oddly appropriate this evening as we await morning on this longest night of the year. Enjoy, and Happy Holidays from your friends in The Flood.

Around here we say whatever two or more gather in its name, it is The 1937 Flood. Well, last night surely tested that proposition. Illnesses and family and work obligations whittled down our numbers considerably. Out of our seven members, heck, we barely had a quorum. In fact, we considered canceling the evening, but, wait a minute -- Doug Chaffin and Paul Martin both had driven a ways to get there. There were cookies on the table and coffee in the pot. Everybody was tuned up and ready to play, so we decided to see what would develop. And we were glad we did.

One of the things we're thankful for is that often this time of year our old buddy Jacob Scarr comes home for a visit, as he did this year, and last night he sat in with us. Jacob started playing with The Flood nine years ago and was a regular member of the band until four years ago when he left Huntington for college in Boulder, Colorado, where he still lives today. He was just 14 when he started his Floodster career, so we've sort of watched him grow up. We've also listened to him get just better and better on that guitar. Last night, Jacob borrowed a flat pick from Doug Chaffin and jumped right into the mix. Listen here as Doug switches from guitar to fiddle and trades new musical ideas with Jacob on this old Flood standard, "Summertime."

The room was warm. The band was hot. The tunes were cool. So the evening was just right for a gathering of good friends.

Every once in a while, we do a song for all the English majors out there. This one -- a 1972 composition called "Jugband Song" by the legendary David Bromberg -- is a favorite warmup tune for The Flood. In fact, we put it on a CD a dozen years ago, and we've been playing it ever since. Now, for our friends in the English Department, the song lyric opens with a lot of cool water imagery and four (count 'em, four!) back-to-back similes, commenting on the subject's eyes, lips, body and soul. Check it out.