Jamming with Red Hot Mama Phyllis Dale
#238 / Flood Time Capsule: 2011
We met singer/pianist/songwriter Phyllis Dale — the original “Red Hot Mama” of The Delta Queen riverboat — in the mid-1990s when Pamela and Charlie took their first steamboat cruise on the Mississippi River, a memorable round trip between New Orleans and Natchez.
They loved how Phyllis was the consummate cabaret singer, as she demonstrated nightly on that good old riverboat. Every evening in the steamboat's cozy Texas Lounge, Phyllis played whatever the passengers wanted to hear as they gathered for their after-hour parties.
And Phyllis came to love with The Flood as well. In fact, she joined other Delta Queen stars like Jazzou Jones, Bob Schad, Connie Jones and Bob Stevens in welcoming the band on board to entertain passengers whenever the boat was anywhere near Huntington’s riverfront.
Those kind invitations fulfilled Charlie’s long-time dream of bringing his Flood family to the same legendary Texas Lounge.
Phyllis Comes to The Flood Room
A born entertainer, Phyllis is an American original, and for years we tried to get her up here for one of our weekly jam sessions. Finally our night came — it was exactly 12 years ago this week — when Phyllis stopped in at the Bowen house during one of her many rambles across the country.
And what a night it was! We hooked up a portable keyboard for her in the band’s regular practice room. Then we put out the call to Flood friends everywhere to come in for the fun.
They rolled in by the dozens. It was standing room only, with listeners crowding all the doorways, all enthralled.
Joining Phyllis for the jam were all the Floodsters (Joe, Doug, David, Sam, Jacob, Bub and Charlie). Also on hand were notable guest players, including Rog Samples, Wendell Dobbs, Randy Hamilton, Jim Rumbaugh, Tom Norman, Randy Brown and John Preston Smith.
In the weeks that followed, we featured Phyllis on three — count ‘em, three! — podcast episodes, all from that one evening. Here’s a sample, with Phyllis rocking it on “Kansas City”:
Oh, here’s her signature rendition from her riverboating days of “(Up a) Lazy River”:
And let’s not forget her gorgeous original composition about our own river — “She’s The Ohio” — complete with Wendell Dobbs’ lovely improvised accompaniment:
Don’t Miss the Movie!
In the spring of 2020, we commemorated that scrapbook-worthy night in this hour-long episode in our "Pajama Jams" series:
Phyllis Today
These days Phyllis Dale is off the roads and rivers and settled among a whole new circle of friends at John Knox Village of Central Florida in Orange City.
And she’s still wowing crowds with regular shows there. We would expect nothing less, you know! And, of course, her new community loves her as much as all the rest of us do. Just check out this excellent article from the JKV website.
