Ours is a band that was born at a party and born TO party.
Whether we’re at home in our band room at the Bowen House, settled in the living room of somebody else’s house or on stage at a gig, the party tradition that started more than a half century ago continues today.
And our next opportunity for a public party will be this very weekend when we launch the Spring Floodango this Sunday afternoon at Huntington’s Alchemy Theater.
Here’s a tune we have on tap for the afternoon. Take a listen and you’ll be ready for the sing-along when you join us at Alchemy Theater!
About the Song
It was 50 years ago when we first heard “Didn’t He Ramble?” Dave Peyton and Charlie Bowen learned it from the great local string band, The Kentucky Foothill Ramblers, whose leader, banjoist H. David Holbrook, seemed to know the entire Charlie Poole songbook.
Bowen and Peyton started doing their own version of the song, teaching it to Roger Samples and Joe Dobbs and giving “Didn’t He Ramble?” a decidedly jug band spin.
After that, whenever the band played the song — which was just about every time they got together — they called it their Charlie Poole song, just assuming the song originated with that 1920s North Carolina superstar.
Actually, though, the song has a longer history, as we reported in a Flood Watch article last year. Click here for a deeper dive into the song’s story.
Our Latest Take on the Tune
If you want to hear a “live” take on the tune, join us this Sunday afternoon at Alchemy Theater, 68 Holley Ave, in the beautiful hills of Huntington.
The fun starts at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 and all the proceeds go to support the good work of Alchemy Theater.
Guests, We’ve Got Guests!
We’ll have a whole slew of guest artists on stage with us Sunday.
Floodster Emerita Michelle Hoge is driving in from Loveland, Ohio, near Cincinnati to sing with her old band mates. You know a room just can’t help but rock whenever Da Chick Singer is on the premises.
And our old buddy singer/songwriter Douglas Eye (aka Doug Imbrogno) will be helping us. We in The Flood’ve been digging Doug for … what? Decades!
We’ve shared the stage with him at more shows than we can remember, and earlier this week, Doug joined Charlie and Alchemy’s Mike Murdock to chat about the show on WSAZ-TV. For Sunday, Doug has crafted a 30-minute set, a show-within-a-show, as it were.
And that’s not all! Also on hand will be our visiting hoodoo guru of kazoo. Ed Light is coming in from the Washington, D.C., area with a whole bag of tricks.
As you’ll recall, Ed sat in with us last month at the Bowen House, and we knew right away we were going to have to introduce him to the wider Family Flood. Ed will Sunday afternoon’s visiting professor of kazoory. You don’t want to miss this.
Get You Tickets Online!
So come on out to the Spring Floodango. Tickets will be available at the door or you can order them right here online. Here’s the link for online ordering.
For more information, visit our web site at Floodat50.com. See ya Sunday!
Come Party with Us on Sunday Afternoon!