Some songs in our repertoire we do only when “The Chick Singer” — Floodster emerita Michelle Hoge — is in the room. Our take on this good old Ivory Joe Hunter classic is at the top of that list. This track is from last December when Michelle h

"Handy Man"

Mar 8th, 2024

You never really forget the songs of your youth. Charlie was 10 years old in the summer of ‘59 when this tune hit the radio. It was such a hoot to take it for a spin at a recent Flood rehearsal.

"Make You Feel My Love"

Mar 1st, 2024

We’re late to the party on this tune. Bob Dylan wrote this more than a quarter of century ago, but we just started doing it a few weeks ago. However, it’s suddenly landed solidly in the repertoire. Here’s our take on “Make You Feel My Love.”

"Needed Time"

Feb 23rd, 2024

We’ve been doing this song for a very long time, and it’s always different, depending on who’s in the room. In this rendition from a rehearsal a few weeks ago, our man Danny Cox makes it special with his signature guitar stylings.

'St. Louis Blues"

Feb 16th, 2024

The Flood has been doing versions of this song for decades. This rendition was the first song of the evening at a Flood rehearsal a few weeks ago. Riding on the infectious rhythm laid down by Randy Hamilton and Jack Nuckols and framing the sol

"Ready for the Times to Get Better"

Feb 9th, 2024

This song took a very long road on its journey to Floodlandia. The first time it was played in our band room was more than a dozen years ago on a mellow autumn night when our friends Randy Hamilton and Paul Martin dropped in to jam with us. No

Sweet Georgia Brown

Feb 2nd, 2024

“Sweet Georgia Brown” entered The Flood’s repertoire soon after the band began in the 1970s and in the ensuing decades the tune has come back into the playlist again and again, serving as a sweet showcase for dozens of Flood soloists over the

Ain't No Free

Jan 26th, 2024

It was 15 years ago when Sam St. Clair brought us this tune, and it quickly became his theme song. Ever since then, “Ain’t No Free” has been a beloved standard in many a Flood show. So, of course, the song had to have a place in honor several

(When She Wants Good Lovin') My Baby Comes to Me

Jan 19th, 2024

Here’s a tune with some mighty deep roots in the Floodisphere. Two decades after our heroes, The Coasters, released this song in July 1957, The Flood started fiddling with it on another summer night. After that, though, it went to sleep again

'You Ain't Goin' Nowhere"

Jan 12th, 2024

Whenever our old friend Paul Martin is back in the room — or, better still, on the bandstand with us, as he was for our big “Flood at 50” big birthday bash — we always get him to take us on a ride on is favorite Bob Dylan tune.

"Sunny"

Jan 5th, 2024

Ever since it came together decades ago, The Flood has always sought a rich diversity in its repertoire. So late last year when Danny Cox asked, “Has the band ever done the song ‘Sunny’?” he heard an invitation in the enthusiasm of the answer

"Raise a Ruckus Tonight"

Dec 29th, 2023

Here’s a tune we always trot out whenever we feel a party coming on. So you can bet we’ll have it on the set list this weekend for our big “Flood at 50” birthday bash on New Year’s Eve at Alchemy Theatre. That’s a night we’re so eager for that

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Dec 22nd, 2023

Okay, we have a Christmas confession to make. Honestly, we don’t really care that much for Christmas music. Oh, we’re not scrooges or anything — well, a few of us are — but it’s mainly it’s just the nature of Christmas songs themselves. The ch

You Got Me Slippin'

Dec 15th, 2023

When we roll in tomorrow night for our latest gig at Sal’s Speakeasy inAshland, Ky., we’re bringing with us one of our all time favorite partytunes. The song we call “You Got Me Slippin’” is loosely based on a classic Jimmy Reed tune fro

My Dear Companion

Dec 8th, 2023

Nominally, this is a traditional song about abandoned love, but back in the 1960s when she reworked it, the late Jean Ritchie wrote new lyrics that went well beyond that to the larger theme of loss in general. Because of those deeper expressio

"Good as I Been to You (You Gonna Quit Me Blues)"

Dec 1st, 2023

We started doing the song in the mid-1990s, right after we heard it on a then-new Bob Dylan album. We were looking for an easy, happy little tune that we can warm up on, letting everybody just stretch out a little. Well, nowadays it just as lik

But Not for Me

Nov 24th, 2023

It’s a kind of counter-love song — a great anthem to angst — and George Gershwin’s “But Not For Me” was ahead of its time. He and his brother Ira wrote the thing in 1930 for a popular stage musical called “Girl Crazy.” But it didn’t make the Bi

"July, You're a Woman"

Nov 17th, 2023

Charlie played this song for Dave Peyton on the first night they jammed together at a New Year’s Eve party 50 years ago. It was the one of the best tunes in their repertoire for their earliest gigs. After that, though, the song dropped out of

"Birth of the Blues"

Nov 10th, 2023

We have several new tunes to bring tomorrow night for our latest gig at Sal’s Speakeasy in Ashland, Ky., including this one that the great Ray Henderson wrote almost a hundred years ago. This song was first recorded by Paul Whiteman and his

"Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You"

Nov 3rd, 2023

There’s a reason why The Flood’s rendition of this Dylan classic sounds different from Bobby’s version — or anyone else’s take on the tune, for that matter. That’s because back in the early 1980s, when Roger and Charlie started playing around

Jelly Roll Baker

Oct 27th, 2023

This sassy Lonnie Johnson song was written and recorded 80 years ago as a rhythm and blues hit, but we owe our version to our folk music heroes of the 1960s. To this day, it’s one of those perfect warmup tunes for us, because it provides plent

Yas Yas Duck

Oct 20th, 2023

Wow, Jack Nuckols’ drumming has brought a whole new class of cool to the old band room. Whether it’s his tasty solos, or rocking along with Randy Hamilton’s bass under Charlie Bowen’s vocals, or making his wise and witty contributions to the e

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right

Oct 13th, 2023

This Bob Dylan classic has been in the Floodisphere forever — Roger and Charlie used to sing it together a half century ago — but only recently has it made a move to be in the regular repertoire. That’s when Randy stepped to sing his signature

Opus One

Oct 6th, 2023

It’s the end of a fun evening at the Bowen house, but nobody is quite ready to quit yet. Jack starts padding a cool swing rhythm on the house bongos and Randy jumps in with a bass line that fits it to a T. Charlie gets the chords going, just a

"Tear It Down"

Sep 29th, 2023

When our friend, the remarkable percussionist Jack Nuckols, dropped in to visit with the band last week, we immediately drew him into the circle. First, we passed him the house bongos to play, but when a jug band tune came around, we put spoon