Digital Jam Session
Each week The Flood gives away a free tune that can be heard online without special software or magic decoder ring. Listening is easy: just scroll this page, and click the gold arrow key 
before any song description to hear it right now.
Recorded at the weekly Wednesday night jam sessions, the tracks are far from "studio quality." On the contrary, they are in the finest warts-and-all tradition of "field recordings," so they have what one listener called a decided "back porch sound."
That means that in addition to the occasional flubs and miscues in the performances (the guys meticulously craft and insert these misfires only for your amusement, you understand), you often hear in the background people chatting, laughing, whispering, rolling dice, shuffling cards, performing the Heimlich Maneuver… Because of the nature of the beast, there are times, of course, when we wish the microphone had been positioned differently or the guys had given a little more thought to a bit of harmony, etc., but despite such glitches, the tunes do capture the joy of jams and we hope you like being part of it.
(Incidentally, each free tune is also turned into the Flood's weekly podcast, Jam Logs, so if you a pod person and would rather have the week's new song delivered directly to you, just subscribe to the podcast. For all the details on that, click here.)
NOTE: The "gold arrow" links below that you click to hear the audio use Flash software technology, which should work with most computers and browsers configurations. However, if you don't hear the audio, you might try this link to reach the podcast files directly. Just click titles on specific tunes on the resulting pages.
The Aussies Have Landed! It's always a good summer when our friends Rod and Judy Jones arrive on one of 
their regular visits from their native Australia. And now 2011 is officially a good summer. The Aussies have landed again! The Flood first met Rod and Judy, expert players of old-time stringband music of the 1920s and '30s, more than three decades ago, during the couple's first visit to The States. Then, as now, whenever they sit in with us, we all get back to our roots.
---
Paul Martin Swings by the Jam Session. One of our favorite local bands used to be Sheldon Road, a trio of 
great singers and pickers named Paul Martin, Randy Hamilton and Kenny Adams. Alas, the group disbanded a few years ago, but we've stayed in touch with all the guys. In fact, Randy Hamilton has been sitting in with us on bass for several weeks now. And last night, Randy's old compatriot Paul Martin dropped in with his sweet mandolin. We even got Paul singing some -- here he leads us through a great old Bob Dylan standard.
---
Rog Samples' Flood Homecoming. When someone 
says The Flood is an eclectic string band, they're actually paying tribute to one of our founders, Roger Samples. And whenever Roger stops by to sit in again with his old partners, as he did recently, we're reminded all over again of just how wide and deep our dear friend's musical tastes run, from folk and blues and The Beatles to a sweet old Jimmy Rodgers tune. Here are three tracks from Roger's Flood Homecoming.
---
The L&N Don't Stop Here Any More. Doug Chaffin has played with us for more than a dozen years now. Most nights 
he's busy driving the band on his big upright bass, but recently our buddy Randy Hamilton came by to sit in with his sweet acoustic electric bass, so Doug switched off to other instruments -- and he plays a bunch of them. On this tune, you hear him take the first solo on guitar, but by the end of the song, Doug's switched to his fiddle. Oh, and if you listen closely, you'll hear Randy also singing that high harmony with us on the choruses of this beautiful old Jean Ritchie composition.
---
The Flood Gets Churched with Rob McNurlin. 
We don't get to see our old buddy Rob McNurlin nearly often enough. But recently the Ashland, Ky., singer-songwriter was home from Nashville and waiting on the doorstep before the jam session even got started. The whole evening was shaped around Rob's tunes, and our favorite part was when we got him into a mood for some of his gospel tunes.
---
A Huge Send-Off for Jacob Scarr. Jacob Scarr 
started sitting in with us when he was 14 years old, and has played lead guitar as a regular member of The Flood for the past three years. Well, now Jacob's 18 and at the end of this summer, he'll be heading off to college in Colorado. Recently, we moved the regular Wednesday night jam session to Jacob's house, where neighbors, family, friends and Flood fans all came together for a huge send-off party in Jacob's honor. And of course, on the morning-after, we had to share a couple of tunes from that special night with our podcast friends.
---
A Reunion of New and Old Friends. One of the things we love about our Wednesday nights is that the weekly jam session is a kind of crossroads where old and new friends get 
to meet. On this night, our old buddy percussionist Dan Trout dropped by on a trip from Athens, Ohio, and got to meet fellow drummer John Smith, who lately was sitting in with us with his brushes and snare. Meanwhile, it was the first jam session for Paula Stewart, a talented member of Jim Rumbaugh's wonderful Huntington Harmonica Club. Here's a tune that features all our visitors.
---
Stormy Weather. Michelle Walker, the chick singer, 
can't make it to the jam session every week, but it's always a special night when she arrives early and stays late. This was such a night. Michelle came in out of the rain with a song in mind that we could do as a little anthem for the stormy week we'd had here in the valley.
---
Crazy Words, Crazy Tunes. Every May, The Flood plays one of its favorite gigs of the year. It's the annual Coon 
Sanders Nighthawks Fans Bash, a gathering here in our hometown of Huntington, West Virginia, that celebrates the early days of jazz and Dixieland. For seven or eight years now, The Flood has come to the bash's Saturday morning session with a "Jug Band Breakfast," an hour or so of bacon and eggs with a liberal side of hokum tunes. In preparation for the day, we focused on our jug band repertoire at a recent jam session.
---
Clarinet Polka. Spending his early years in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, fiddler Joe Dobbs was exposed a wide variety of musical styles, from Cajun to country, 
blues to bluegrass, pop to polka. Forty years ago when he came north and east and helped us form The Flood, Joe brought us a huge song bag. Here's one that was always popular with the sizable German population of Joe's old stomping grounds. And incidentally, this also is a substantial answer to anyone who thinks traditional fiddlers just want to plop down in plain D and stay there. "Clarinet Polka" makes three key changes each time through the melody.
---
House of the Rising Sun. Sometimes the magic 
happens at the tail-end of the evening, after the voices are strained and the fingers are tender from all that picking. On this particular track, half the band had already packed gone home. Jacob Scarr and Joe Dobbs were fixing to do same, when our buddy Jim Rumbaugh came in late from the cold and limbered up his harmonicas, so they decided to stick around for a couple more tunes.
---
Fiddler Susan Staton's First Flood Jam. One of our favorite parts of the weekly jam sessions is getting to sit in with musicians from all over the 
country who stop in for one of our Wednesday nights. This was the first time for fiddler Susan Staton of the Central-Florida-based Streak of Lean old-time string band. Susan grew up in our area, but went to work for the railroad and transferred to various cities, from Richmond to Jacksonville. But she obviously never forgot her Appalachian roots. Here Susan leads us on a raucous romp through "Soldier Joy." And if you listen closely, you'll hear that Joe Dobbs, the Flood's regular fiddler, switches to mandolin for the occasion. And Dave Peyton does some nice Autoharp work before passing it back to the visiting violinist.
---
One Meatball. From Chesapeake, Ohio, N.F. Brown -- everybody calls him "Nerf" -- first dropped by the jam session a few weeks ago and for most of that evening, he just sat quietly in 
the corner strumming his Taylor guitar. It was only near the end of the night, after many of the regulars had already gone home, that Nerf offered a tune -- and blew the doors off the place with his big, beautiful voice. Right then and there we told him he had to come back and next time sing earlier so more folks would get to hear him. Here Mr. Brown leads The Flood through a great old Josh White standard. Good times, Nerf -- come back any time, buddy!
---
The 1937 Flood Orchestra. Sometimes we have so 
many pickers at the jam session, it was more like The 1937 Flood orchestra, with guest artists. On this particular evening, Jim Rumbaugh came in with a belt full of harmonicas. Randy Brown was there with his big beautiful f-cut Gibson and Floodster emeritus Chuck Romine dropped by with that sweet little tenor guitar that we've always loved so much. With all that extra string and wind power, we rocked the neighborhood.
---
If You Lose Your Money. If you've ever been to one of our Wednesday night jam sessions, you know that people -- players and listeners -- are always coming and going. The music 
evolves, depending on who's on hand at the time that particular tune is being played. Here's a case in point. On this evening, our lead guitarist, Jacob Scarr, had just arrived and tuned up as we were launching into this old Sonny Terry-Brownie McGhee number. Then midway through, harmonicat Sam St. Clair came in, took his seat, grabbed a harp and hopped onboard before the song was done.
---
Picking with Rog. Roger Samples, one of the founders of The Flood, is a bit under the weather these days, so 
recently The Flood made a house call. Joe Dobbs and Charlie Bowen hit the road, hooking up with Buddy Griffin and Rog's brother Mack for a few hours of music in Roger's Mount Sterling, Ky., home. During the more than 10 years he played regularly with The Flood, Rog brought in so many tunes for us to do, from beautiful Michael Peter Smith ballads to crazy jugband tunes.
---
Dinah. Folks who regularly drop in to our Wednesday night jam sessions are privy to a pretty badly kept secret: namely, that we don't really have arrangements for our music. A 
tune for The Flood is like a pair of comfortable old shoes that's been worn in just right by slipping them and dancing around. Jam session regulars listen as new tunes come into the mix and get softened up by repetition each week. Here's a case in point -- we've just started playing with this great old 1926 Ethel Waters standard and in this track, you can hear we're still experimenting with it.
---
Jesse Smith Sittin' In. Joe Dobbs has been knowing guitar player Jesse Smith of Wadsworth, Ohio, near Akron, for 
five or six years now, but only recently did some of the rest of us got to meet him. On his way to the Cabin Fever Pickin' Party in Hampton, Va., Jesse came with Joe to sit with us and the finger-picking phenom sweetened up everything we played. Here are a couple of samples.
---
How Long, How Long Blues. Here's a tune that was 
a mainstay for The Flood when the band first started back in the mid-1970s, but until a recent jam session, we'd not played it in literally several decades. It's a blues standard from the 1920s by the great Leroy Carr.
---
Joe Fiddles for Norman and Shirley. Norman and 
Shirley Davis have become our most loyal Wednesday night listeners. Lately they've been little disappointed that one of their favorites -- fiddler Joe Dobbs -- couldn't make the sessions. Well, when Joe blew back in on a warm spring-like Feburary evening, one look at the Davises told you how pleased they were to see and hear him again. And Joe played a couple of special fiddle tunes just for Shirley and Norman.
---
Randy Brings a Banjo. We never really know what direction our Wednesday night jam sessions will take. It all 
depends on who shows and what they bring to play. Jazz guitarist Randy Brown has been sitting in with us most Wednesdays for more than a year now, playing great solos on his Gibson L5. But one night, Randy came to the door with his plectrum banjo, a beautiful 50-year-old Vega, and suddenly an evening of quiet folk songs took a decidedly raucous turn.
---
Jacob Turns 18. When guitarist Jacob Scarr, the 
youngest member ever in The Flood's 35-year history, turned 18, it struck us as a pretty darn good reason to celebrate. Our gift to him? Multiple solos on just about every tune we played, including all the solos on this little blues number. And Jacob's gift to us? Well, besides years of tasty music every Wednesday night, his mom, P.J., sent over cannoli, making it a pretty sweet evening all the way around!
---
Just Because. Our buddy Roger Samples is one of the founding members of The 1937 Flood. From its first days in the 1970s through the mid-1980s, Rog played and sang with us, and 
his guitar stylings, vocals and song selection have set the standard for The Flood ever since. Even after Roger and his family moved to Kentucky, we stayed in touch and last weekend, on a bright, crisp January day, a bunch of us headed to Mount Sterling for a little reunion with Roger and his brothers, Mack and Ted, who form the legendary Samples Brothers Band. Here's a tune for that grand day, with Mack and Roger doing the vocals and that's Ted on the five-string. (videos)
---
Come All Ye Fair and Tender Maidens.. It was more than 35 years ago now when Dave, Charlie and Joe first got 
together to start The Flood. Dozens of good friends have been in the band over the years, and one of the first tunes we ever did was this old Jean Ritchie ballad that veteran Floodster Rog Samples and Charlie arranged back in the mid-1970s. Nowadays, we don't think to do it much any more at the weekly jam sessions, but last night it just seemed like the perfect song to start with on a misty summer evening.
---