Doug & Charlie Hit the Road to Visit Rog

#453 / Flood Time Capsule: 2007

Two months after Roger Samples trekked to Huntington to celebrate New Year’s 2007 with his old band mates, Charlie Bowen and Doug Chaffin returned the favor with a day trip to the Samples’ old Kentucky home.

As reported earlier, a Christmas gift — a nostalgic collection of tunes from the Bowen Bash gatherings 25 years earlier — had drawn Rog back in the fold, at least temporarily.

"I think hearing those old Bash tunes really made him homesick, both for West Virginia and for the music," Charlie told his mom in an email the morning after a Floodsters reunion at the Bowen House. David Peyton had been in especially good form, reviving those old tunes he had played with Roger all those years earlier.

That evening also was the first time Roger met Doug, and the two really clicked. “He just he couldn't say enough good about Doug,” Charlie wrote.

Road Trip!

So it was only natural a couple months later that it was Doug and Charlie who drove together to Mt. Sterling, Ky., for a Monday afternoon-evening jam with Rog Samples.

It was cold and windy, but a beautifully sunny day for the drive. "Rog and Tammy greeted us at the door when we arrived," Charlie later told his mom in a March 5 email, "and, after a tour their home (it was the first we'd seen it), we unpacked the instruments and launched into two hours of picking.”

It was apparent from the get-go that Rog hadn't been playing much since that fun January jam and he was hanging back a bit, “but as the afternoon went on, he was jumping in more and more. It was fun to watch and listen to it happen.”

New Music, Old Music

And of course, Doug was already in great form. “In preparation for the trip,” Charlie wrore, “I'd been thinking back to tunes that Rog and I used to do together ... oh, what? 25 years ago?! ... and I pulled them out one after another. It was amazing how quickly we fell into the same same old harmonies and solos. I guess that stuff never really leaves your memory.”

In the late afternoon, Rog had a guitar student coming by for a lesson. Doug and Charlie took a break and used the opportunity to chat with Tammy.

The Samples invited the visitors to stay for dinner, which, of course, they did.

“Tammy, used to cooking for a large family, laid out quite a spread and we ate it all! 8) A little after 6, we were on the road for home, getting back by 7:30. Fun day!”