Last weekend we played the Fraley Festival at Kentucky’s Carter Caves State Park, as we have dozens of times over the past few decades.
The folk festival’s patriarch — renowned late fiddler J.P. Fraley — was a friend of The Flood since the 1970s. Those roots run really deep.
Floodster Emeritus Doug Chaffin for years accompanied his dear friend J.P. at festivals, fiddle contests, shows, parties and jam sessions at home and on the road.
And Doug’s fellow Floodster, the late Joe Dobbs, never failed to seek out J.P. for jamming whenever they could get together, especially at Nancy McClellan’s legendary New Year’s Eve parties in Ashland.
So it’s always been only natural for The Flood — in assorted configurations over the years — to join other musicians who come in every September from all around the country to honor the memory of J.P. and his wife and music partner, Annadeene Fraley.
And now that the Fraleys have passed on, we’re grateful to the remarkable Barb Kuhns and Doug Smith for keeping the festival going (and for kindly continuing to invite the Family Flood to be part of the fun each year).
Here’s our set at this year’s gathering. Our Flood brother Danny couldn’t make the scene, so Randy stepped up for double duty, doing cool guitar solos along with his always-stellar vocal harmonies with Charlie and Sam.
Floodin' the Fraley Festival