Diversity Delights

Whenever we have fresh ears in The Flood’s band room, as we did last week, the newcomer’s first question often is, “What kind of music do you fellas play?”No single easy answer is available, of course, but it is an opportunity for a show-and-tell — well, more show than tell, probably — demonstrating the storied diversity of band’s repertoire. At last week’s gathering, for instance, in the first dozen minutes of the evening, the guys played across a spectrum, starting with an Irving Berlin tune, followed by a Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee blues, then a Hoagy Carmichael jazz standard, a Bob Dylan composition and a centuries-old fiddle tune.When the boys wanted to bring out the jug band course for this eclectic repast, they turned to this tune from the head honcho of hokum, Mister Tampa Red.About This SongAs reported here earlier, Shelton Brooks’ composition, “I Wonder Where My Easy Rider’s Gone,” was recorded by Red on July 9, 1929, with Georgia Tom on piano and jazz singer Frankie “Half Pint” Jaxon doing the vocal honors.And, as also noted, Brooks’ piece inspired a famous “answer” song, W.C. Handy’s “Yellow Dog Blues,” which continued Shelton’s story by tracking down his elusive easy rider.Our Take On the TuneAround here, the best night of the week is whatever night we’re all getting together to pick. Everyone always comes in the room ready to rock. But some nights? Well, those night swing even more than usual. At that session last week, for instance, Danny seemed to have a whole barrel of new riffs to try out on his guitar, and Jack was absolutely cooking on his snare and high-hat. And, man, it seemed like Randy was rocking before he even got his bass out of the case. Just listen to how Randy’s walking bass line puts a strut and a glide in this great old tune from the Roarin’ Twenties. Shoot, you can probably hear Charlie grinning while he’s singing.Meanwhile…Well, we’re now about a third of the way into the new year. If you’d like a Flood-centric progress report on how the year is suiting the band — and to further sample the group’s diverse musical tastes — check out the growing 2025 playlist in the free Radio Floodango music streaming service.Click here to give it a spin. And, of course, while you’ve got the time machine fired up, if you might as well tool on back to earlier periods of Floodery by visiting the “Hear by Year” section of the service, where annual playlist butons go back to 2009. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 1937flood.substack.com