Original Hokum on Demand

The Flood started playing around with hokum music — those good old jug band tunes from the 1920s — about a half century ago, but it took another 20 years for us to feel confident enough to try to write one of those kind of songs ourselves.Charlie Bowen started putting this tune together back in the 1990s, but then it took another 30 years for us to feel like we could play it. In fact, the song didn’t really start coming together until Jack Nuckols joined the band. Who knew that the spark we were waiting for was Jack’s spectacular spoon playing to finally reach that jug band junction? See what you think.Night of the Broken SpoonsLong-time Flood Watch readers will recall that when Jack first sat in with the band nearly three years ago now, we passed him the house bongos to play, but then when a jug band tune came around, we put spoons in his hands.Jack was rocking it hard, and we were digging on those rhythmic riffs. But then, just as we were fixing to turn it over to him for a solo, darned if those poor spoons didn’t break in his hands. Now, Jack was apologetic, but — as you can hear here in that week’s podcast — the rest of us all thought it was a hoot! What better way to end a song called, “Tear It Down”?(By the way, now that Jack is a full-time Floodster, we got him a more industrial-strength set of spoons, ones that can take a pounding as you can hear this week.)About the SongFor more on the back story of “Lovin’ You Would be So Good for Me,” check out this earlier Flood Watch article.More Hokum, You Say?Meanwhile, if all this has put you in the mood for a little more juggery in your jaunty Friday, visit the Hokum channel of the band’s free Radio Floodango music streaming service. There you’ll find several dozen randomized tracks of the band playing those jolly jug band tunes that inspired this Bowen composition. Click here to give it a spin. 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