Train songs have always been fundamental to The Flood formula, so what better gift can we slip under your Christmas tree than a new Train Set?
With more than a dozen tracks (Whoa! See what we did there?), this is the latest addition to The Special Blends section of our free Radio Floodango music streaming service. Click here to give it a listen.
This new playlist also is quite timely for us. As noted earlier, we’re all set to celebrate the band’s 50th birthday at our big New Year’s Eve bash at Alchemy Theatre. (To read all about that, click here.)
Well, as it turns out, the very first song that Dave Peyton and Charlie Bowen sang together at their first jam session on Dec. 31, 1973, just happened to be a railroad song.
To commemorate that momentous selection, the new playlist includes a 2023 reunion with the very same tune — “Solid Gone” — this time with Danny Cox and Sam St. Clair double-dipping on the solos and Randy Hamilton singing his always rock-solid harmonies.
Time Machinery
A time machine vibe runs throughout the Train Set playlist. For example, because Peyton and Bowen’s first gig a few months after that initial jam was a Spring 1974 performance for a group of retired railway workers, the two were eager to build their railroad repertoire.
Right away they worked up some traditional folk songs, like “The Wreck of the FFV” and “Working on the New Railroad,” along with their take on Steve Goodman’s then-new composition “City of New Orleans.” All those songs — and nearly a score more — are included in the new playlist.
Among them are some Flood classics. The playlist opens, for instance, with a track from the band’s third album (the 2003 I’d Rather Be Flood), a rocking rendition of “Midnight Special,” with Charlie singing the lead around the solos by Peyton, Joe Dobbs, Chuck Romine, Sam St. Clair and Doug Chaffin.
Doug Chaffin
Humor also plays its part. Don’t miss the playlist’s 2009 recording from an evening when Dave and Charlie were remembering a railroad parody that Utah Phillips called his “New Wreck of the Old '97.” The solos are wonderful, but even better is Doug’s infectious laughter.
Speaking of the late Doug Chaffin, the playlist wouldn’t be complete without our dear Floodster emeritus’s favorite train song.
It’s our take on W.C. Handy’s 1915 “Yellow Dog Blues,” which we recorded in the spring of 2021 in the Chaffin living room in Ashland, Ky., with Doug joining Veezy Coffman to burn it up on the solos atop Danny Gillum’s rich bass line.
Live Cuts
Another favorite is the track from a few years ago when Michelle Hoge led our audience at Charleston’s Taylor Books on one of the strangest railroad-rich sing-alongs in Flood history. “Sentiment Journey” under Michelle’s direction is ba-ba-ba-beautiful!
Live audiences also are on hand for two other tunes on the playlist. “Dusty Boxcar Wall” and “The L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymore” both come from the band’s 2016 Live, In Concert album.
Remembering Rog
Meanwhile, creating the Train Set had us thinking about how hard it is to believe that it’s been a half century now since Roger Samples and Charlie Bowen started playing music together.
The playlist is another chance to celebrate that friendship. One track, for instance, starts with a tune that was recorded at a party in late 1974. That was the night when Rog and Charlie started messing around with an old Josh White blues called “Number 12 Train.”
Roger has been gone almost seven years now, but he’s still very much with us. Proof of that is in the rest of that track. Recorded back in March 2020, it featured sweet solos by the two Paul — Mr. Martin and Mr. Callicoat — as well as by Doug and Sam.
Rog also helped us first exercise our jug band muscles all those years ago. In fact, it was Samples who brought us the 1920s party tune “France Blues,” and we’re still doing it.
On the playlist you’ll have a rendition from a jam session earlier this year. Hear Randy bring in some cool harmony as Danny puts a bow on the whole thing with a letter-perfect guitar part. And of course, Sam is there to brighten it up with that harmonica of his.
Starring Sam as The Train
To do train songs right, you really need a powerful harmonica player like Sam.
Nothing demonstrates that better than the Train Set’s closing track. “I Never Cried” is borrowed from the 2002 album, The 1937 Flood Plays Up a Storm. Just listen to how Sam blows the whistle and we all jump on board.