Digital Jam Session

We created a podcast to share occasional tracks from our Wednesday jam sessions.

By subscribing to Jam Logs, Freebies from The Flood, you'll automatically get each new two- to five-minute installment through the iTunes store or any other podcast tool you use. To subscribe, click here.

Or if you don't want to subscribe but still want to hear the jam session tunes, you've come to the right page. Just browse below and click the gold arrow key before any song description to hear it right now.

And by the way, you can download free .mp3 copies of any of these tunes in our last.fm installation

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37.  Way Downtown. Our good buddy Chuck Romine played tenor banjo with The Flood for six glorious years, before stepping down to spend more time traveling and visiting with his family. But hey, as we often say, The Flood is easier to get into than it is to get out of, and once a Floodster, always a Floodster. Chuck still sits in with us occasionally at gigs and other gatherings, and recently, ol' Dr. Jazz surprised us by dropping by this Wednesday night jam session.

By the way, we also created a video last year with a live performance of this tune in concert in Kentucky in 2002, featuring Chuck and the guys. Click here to view it.

 

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 36. Walkin' After Midnight. We always associate "Walkin' After Midnight" with the late, great Patsy Cline, but it wasn't originally intended for her, and she almost didn't record it at all. The story goes that Alan Block and Don Hecht wrote the song specifically for pop vocalist Kay Starr but, for some reason, her recording company didn't want her to record it, so the tune sat unused. Later on, Don Hecht thought up and coming Patsy Cline's voice was perfect for the song, but Patsy didn't like it, thinking it was too "pop" for her decidedly country sound. In 1957, when Patsy auditioned for Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts program, she was supposed to sing her song, "A Poor Man's Roses," but someone on the show insisted on "Walkin' After Midnight" instead. Patsy then won the competition with the song, and the rest, as they say, is history. This is our Michelle Walker's version of this 50-year-old classic.

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 35. Suffer to Sing the Blues. Some of us in The Flood have been loving the music of David Bromberg for nearly 40 years now. And this old tune, dusted off at a recent jam session, comes from Bromberg's debut album back in 1971. It's a song that reminds us that, dang, boy, you just got to suffer if you're going to sing the blues.

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 34. St. Anne's Reel. Our fiddler, Joe Dobbs, has been playing this great old tune for years, but there's a lot of confusion about its origins, because these days, it's played from Scotland and Ireland to New England and other spots all around the world. It's been claimed as a Shetland tune, an Irish reel, a contra-dance number and an American old-time standard. But The Flood is pretty much convinced that "St. Anne's Reel" comes to us from the French-Canadian tradition. It appears the tune was first made popular in the early 1930s through a recording of Québec fiddler Joseph Allard and later spread to English Canada and the Eastern U.S. Adding credence to the theory is that Saint Anne, of course, is traditionally a cultural and religious icon in Québec. Enjoy!

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33.  Summertime from "Porgy and Bess" is one of the most performed songs of the modern era. Any respectable music collection has dozens of versions of the Gershwin classic, from Ella Fitzgerald's smoky take on the tune to Janis Joplin's raw, electric rendering. The Flood's been doing the song for years -- we even put it on a CD back in 2002. But "Summertime" changed for us when Michelle came along to sing the lead and let us play with some harmonies. Here's Michelle's "Summertime" from a recent Wednesday evening.

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 32. Oor Hamlet. Our buddy Mike Smith simply brought down the house one Wednesday night recently when he introduced us to this wonderful bit of reduced Shakespeare. Here's his four-minute a cappella recap of all five acts of "Hamlet." Mike's tune comes from the madly unbuttoned mind of Scottish folksinger Adam McNaughtan.

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 31. Somebody Stole My Gal. Daniel Trout is a fine young percussionist who occasionally -- way too occasionally -- drives down fromAthens, Ohio, to sit in with us. The other night, Daniel showed up with a Cuban box drum called a cajón and joined us for the entire evening. Take a listen to his solo on this great old 1920s jazz standard.

 

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 30. Peggy Day. Bob Dylan wrote and released this tune more than 40 years ago on the great "Nashville Skyline" album and we're surprised that more performers haven't recorded it over the years. "Peggy Day" is one of The Flood's favorite warm-up tunes.

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 29. Please Don't Bury Me. Dave Peyton and Charlie Bowen started doing this old John Prine song back before The Flood was even a glint in our eyes. In fact, "Please Don't Bury Me" was one of the crazy tunes they brought along when Rog Samplesand Joe Dobbs, Stewart Schneider and Bill Hoke joined them to start The Flood back in the mid-70s. And Dave and Charlie still dust this old tune off from time to time, as they did at this recent Wednesday night jam session.

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 28. Somebody's Been Using That Thing. If there's such a thing as a "standard" in jug band music, this tune is certainly one of them. Our heroes, the Hokum Boys, recorded it back in 1930, but the song was done by lots of folks, even country blues performers in the '30s and '40s, like Homer and Walter Callahan and Milton Browne and his Musical Brownies. Well, we've always loved the song, but The Flood didn't get around to doing it until just recently, when we heard a version earlier this year by our old buddy, Ed Light, and his new band with a great name: It's Ed Light and The All New Genetically Altered Jug Band. Too cool, Ed! So, here's the Flood's take on "Somebody's Been Using That Thing."

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 27. Whisky Before Breakfast -- not an especially good idea, but one fine fiddle tune -- has been on the Flood's menu for more than three decades, ever since fiddlin' Joe Dobbs brought to us back in the late '70s. It's been a Flood standard ever since. Lately, our favorite new Flood friend, Mike Smith, has been joining in on the tune, and suddenly "Whisky" has a new life as a twin fiddle piece. Check out this version from Joe and Mike from a jam session a week or so ago.

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 26. Sunny Side of the Street. Michelle Walker -- we affectionately call her The Chick Singer -- first sang on stage with The Flood about five years ago at West Virginia's Snowshoe Mountain Resort, and this wonderful old 1930s standard was her debut number. Michelle's still singing with us regularly and we're still doing this great tune. In fact, this version was recorded at a recent jam session.

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 25. Come Back to Us, Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard. The Flood fellas have been fans of John Prine for nearly 40 years. In fact, Prine's debut album came out just about the time The Flood was stumbling into existence back in the hippy-dippy days of the early 1970s, so it was only natural that John Prine songs have been on our set lists since the very beginning. Dave Peyton, our Mount Union Road crooner, took this tune as his own as soon as it came out, and all these years later, it's still a regular at our weekly jam sessions. Now, as often with the informal tunes on these podcasts, the recording quality isn't the best, but it does capture the spirit of the evening.

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 24. The Farmer's Servant. Okay, most of the noise made at The Flood's weekly jam session is made by The Flood itself. But occasionally, the guys sit back and listen to somebody else's song. These days a much welcomed addition to the weekly get-togethers is Mike Smith, who sits in to play fiddle and sometimes gives us a tune from his native England. On this track, he brought down the house with this old English drinking song that was also recorded by the great Martin Carthy in the mid 1960s.

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23. If You Lose Your Money. Here's a track that perfectly captures the mood of our weekly jam sessions. The other night, we'd just launched into this great old Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee song when our man Sam St. Clair came in the back door. We tell him, Sam, we'll keep the song going until you can get in on it. In the background, you can hear Brother Sam unpacking his harmonicas and in a minute he's taking the first of what will be three choruses before the tune is done.

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22. Ain't No Free. Sam St. Clair brought us this crowd pleaser a few years ago and we almost never miss an opportunity to slip it into the set list when we're on stage, though this version was recorded at a recent Wednesday night jam session. "Ain't No Free" comes to us from the New Rhythm and Blues Quartet. NRBQ is one of America's great unknown bands -- and it's even older than the Flood, tracing back to 1967.

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21. The Dutchman. Back in the early 1980s, when he was still playing regularly with the band he helped start, Rog Samples brought this great Michael Smith tune to The Flood after learning it from a Steve Goodman album. Well, now, of course, Rog has been away from The Flood for more than 25 years and the song was forgotten for a while, tucked away in the band's foggy long-term memory. But recently the guys have dusted it off again, and it often gets trotted out at the end of a long evening's jam session. So, this is The Flood 3.0's version of "The Dutchman," with solos by Doug Chaffin, Sam St. Clair and Joe Dobbs. Dave Ball (Bub) is on bass here. Alas, Brother Peyton wasn't at this session, so we didn't get his Autoharp on this track.

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20. Billy in the Low Ground. Our fiddler, Joe Dobbs, says his grandfather used to fiddle this tune. Not surprising. "Billy in the Low Ground" is an old one. In fact, it's believed to have begun life among the bagpipers of Highland Scotland. As an American fiddle tune, it's particularly associated with southern Virginia and first appeared in print in a book of Virginia reels published more than 20 years before the Civil War. The tune's had many names. Our favorite? Well, that's got to be: "Fiddler's Drunk and the Fun's All Over."

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19. Hoochie Coochie Man/7th Son. Jacob Scarr, the newest — and youngest ever — member of The Flood, was getting ready to leave the jam session the other night when the guys said, “Aw, kid, do one more!” This track, with Jacob’s guitar solos, was the result. It’s The Flood’s tribute to bluesmen Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon. “Hoochie-Coochie Man” was written by Dixon and recorded by Muddy Waters in 1954, and most of our rendition is that tune. But we also incorporate a little shout-out to another favorite Willie Dixon composition, “Seventh Son.”

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18. Fly Me to the Moon. Michelle Walker, takes the Flood in a whole ‘nother direction with the great standard from the 1950s. “Fly Meto the Moon” is often associated with Frank Sinatra, of course, but his version wasn’t recorded until 10 years after Bart Howard wrote the song. Over the years, it’s been recorded by everyone from Nat King Cole, Count Basie and Earl Grant to Connie Francis and Doris Day. More recently it’s had a rebirth in the movies, used in the opening titles of Oliver Stone’s 1987 film, “Wall Street” and in the closing moments of Clint Eastwood’s 2000 film, “Space Cowboys.” Incidentally, the tune was originally entitled, “In Other Words,” but became popularly called “Fly Me to the Moon” because of its first line. It took the publishers a few years to officially change the song’s name.

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17. Soldier' Joy. Young British fiddler Mike Smith and his stepdaughter Sydney have become regulars at the Wednesday night jam sessions, and lately Mike and Joe Dobbs have been working on some nice duets. Here the twin fiddles rock through a sweet version of “Soldier’s Joy,” perhaps the best known fiddle tune on either side of the Atlantic. “Soldier’s Joy,” like many fiddle tunes, was popularized by minstrel shows in the 19th Century, but the tune is much older than that and is known by other names. For instance, the Amish in north central Ohio know this tune as “Two Rattle.” Meanwhile, there are various theories about what “Soldier’s Joy” means. Some think tune originated in Ireland as “Soldier’s Hornpipe.” Another story has it that a soldier’s “joy” was his pay, prompting some to call the tune “Pay Day in the Army.” But you’ll also hear that the name was bestowed by wounded soldiers in the American Civil War who nicknamed their morphine “soldier’s joy.”

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16. Buddy Bolden Blues. The story of Charles “Buddy” Bolden — also known as King Bolden — is the story of jazz itself at its very beginnings. A trumpet player in New Orleans in the first few years of the 20th Century, Bolden influenced the first generation of jazzmen. We have no recordings of Bolden, but the great Jelly Roll Morton called him “the most powerful trumpet player I’ve ever heard.” This tune was Bolden’s only known piece of original music, which he called “Funky Butt.” Jelly Roll later recorded it with the opening line, “I thought I heard Buddy Bolden say,” and it’s come down to us as “Buddy Bolden Blues.” Jelly Roll was the only person recording the tune who’d actually heard Buddy play it. The Flood learned its version of the song from a 1961 Folkways recording by bluesmen Rolf Cahn and Eric von Schmidt.

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15. Georgie Buck. The late Aunt Jennie Wilson was born in 1900 in Logan County, West Virginia. She learned tunes from family members and other musicians in her coalfield community and was among the first women in her region to play the banjo. Our Dave Peyton got to know Jennie in the 1960s and learned a number of songs from her, many of which he has taught the Flood. Here Dave leads the boys in a rendition of Jennie's old play-party tune, "Georgie Buck." Incidentally, the Carolina Chocolate Drops do an interesting, different version of this same old string band number.

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14. Dead Cat on the Line. Many blues singers have recorded this cool old song over the years, but we took our inspiration from the April 1934 recording by our heroes Tampa Red and Georgia Tom. Incidentally, while the Flood always does feline noises in this number, the "dead cat" in this title may actually be talking about fishing. Words guru William Safire wrote in no less an authority than The New York Times in 1998 that the phase "dead cat on the line" appears to refer to a dead catfish on a trotline, evidence that a lazy fisherman has not been checking his poles. In other words, something's fishy...

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13. Wade in the Water. This old spiritual was first published in 1901 in “New Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers” by John Wesley Work II and his brother, Frederick J. Work. “Wade in the Water” was a popular instrumental hit in 1966 for the Ramsey Lewis Trio, which prompted further instrumental recordings. But our favorite version was the late, great Odetta in 1954.

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12. Blue Moon. We started doing this old standard soon after Michelle Walker, the Chick Singer, made her Flood debut a few years back. There’s something so relaxing about this Rodgers and Hart melody and lyric. The first commercial release of “Blue Moon” was by Connee Boswell in 1935, but of course, since then it’s been recorded by everyone from Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald to Dylan and the Cowboy Junkies.

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11. Down in the Flood. This old Bob Dylan tune seems more or less MADE for The Flood. We’ve loved every version we’ve ever heard, from Bobby’s original to Flatt & Scruggs (Oh Mama!)…

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10. Backwater Blues. Jacob Scarr is a talented young guitar player who’s been sitting in with The Flood for a year or so now, and we’ve loved watching him get just better and better week after week. Jacob is featured on this little blues we use as a warm-up tune. Oh, while you’re listening, don’t miss Michelle Walker’s neat supporting vocals on this track. Yes, the Chick Singer’s working her own arrangement!

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9. Good As I Been To You. This old tune dates back to the fall of 1927 when a bluesman called Blind Blake recorded it in Chicago. Nobody know much about Blake -- even where he was born (they think it was Florida) or when he died (probably in the early '30s) -- but he left us about 80 tracks recorded for the old Paramount label. Bob Dylan recorded this song in 1992 as "You're Gonna Quit Me." The Flood often uses it for a warm-up tune, giving everybody a couple of choruses.

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8. One-Eyed Sam. We’ve just started to work on this tune, which we’re learning from a 1938 recording by a little-known but wonderful Kentucky string band called Eldon Baker And His Brown County Revelers. Eldon and his brother, Floyd, led the group, joined by Charlie Linville on fiddle and Harry Baker on guitar. “One-Eyed Sam” was one of the jazzy little tunes the band recorded in Chicago for Columbia.

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7. France Blues. This old tune dates back at least to an April 1927 recording called “Hey Lawdy Mama/France Blues” by a group called “Sonny Boy & His Pals.” It was later reissued under the names “Papa Harvey Hull and Long Cleeve Reed” — they might have been the same group. Anyway, we learned it in the 1960s from the only recording from the great Even Dozen Jug Band. We recorded this one on Christmas Eve 2008.

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6. McLeod' Reel. Dr. Wendell Dobbs — a professor at Marshall University, a section leader of the Huntington Symphony Orchestra — is an old friend. In fact, his Irish band, Blackbirds and Thrushes, has performed in the same programs with The Flood often over the years. One night not long ago, Wendell dropped by with his flute to jam with us, and here Joe and Wendell team up on a great old fiddle tune.

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5. Basin Street Blues. Michelle Walker leads the band in her version of the great Spencer Williams tune from the 1920s. Oh, and don’t miss Br’er Dave Peyton’s big blue kazoo surprise at the end…

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4. The New Wreck of the Old 97. The guys are playing around with an old parody Charlie learned from the recordings of the late, great Utah Phillips, stopping for solos by Joe, Dave and Doug.

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3. Up a Lazy River. It’s late summer, 2008, and The Chick Singer, Michelle Walker, has dropped in from Cross Lanes. After an evening of tunes, the boys fall into “Up a Lazy River,” with Michelle finding an interesting new vocal line against Charlie’s lead. Solos are shared by Doug, Joe, Bub and Jacob.

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2. 4th Street Mess Around. The boys dust off an old Memphis Jug Band tune they’ve not tasted for a while. After a busy summer, it is the first time everyone is back together again — Sam and Dave, Bub and Joe, Doug and Charlie — and it’s fun to poke around in the nooks and crannies of this old song they’ve not played in more than a year.

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1. St. Louis Blues. It was a warm June evening in 2008, late in the jam session. Doug and Charlie started picking a blues and Mickey Dee and Bub hopped right in. Before it was over, Joe had joined before they handed it off to Jacob. And somewhere along the line, the guys determined that they must be playing “St. Louis Blues,” the old W.C. Handy piece.