So much of the band’s repertoire these days is jazzed by Jack Nuckols’ dynamic drumming. Tunes that were thought to be retired from The Flood set lists suddenly are back with a whole new burst of verve.
Meanwhile, certain musical muscles that Jack thought were long retired also are being reawakened. That is because The Flood has got Nuckols fiddling again.
In the Old Days…
Back in the 1970s, when he was a regular at the Bowen Bashes where The Flood was born, Jack was part of the parties’ circle of fiddlers, joining the likes of Joe Dobbs and Mack Samples, Jim Strother, Buddy Griffin and others.
But then 20 years ago, dust started gathering on the Jack Nuckols fiddle case.
And Now…
Last year when Jack brought his brushes, snare and high-hat to the band room, he noticed that not all of of the group’s eclectic repertoire needed rhythmic additions.
“I’ll just sit out on those tunes,” he said.
Whoa, buddy, not so fast, his new band mates said. The Flood’s folkier stuff, they said, are perfectly fit for a bit of fiddling. In other words, Jack, ahem… open the fiddle case.
So, lately to the weekly rehearsals Nuckols has been bringing his fiddle, which is finding its way into more and more Flood songs.
Last weekend saw the instrument’s debut at a show at Woodlands during the band’s performance of Walt Aldridge’s beautiful ballad, “No Ash Will Burn.” Check it out in the Pamela Bowen’s video at the top of this article.
Jack’s fiddle is now a Flood fixture.
About That Song
As we wrote in a Flood Watch article last spring, we learned “No Ash Will Burn” from another veteran of those long-ago Bowen Bashes, late Floodster Emeritus Bill Hoke.
Only later did we find out that “No Ash Will Burn” is the work of Muscle Shoals singer/songwriter Walt Aldridge, an Alabaman whose songs over the past 60 years have been recorded by artists from Lou Reed to Reba McEntire. For more about the song’s history, click here.
Meanwhile, if you’d like to see/hear more from last weekend’s show, check out this earlier report.
It's Also >Fiddling< Jack Nuckols...