Once Upon a Summer's Night

#103/ Flood Time Capsule: 1977

Forty-five years ago tonight, a ragtag bunch of folk music lovers — players wielding guitars, banjos and fiddles, listeners toting lawn chairs, blankets and baskets and coolers — rolled up the hill to take over Huntington’s classiest stage.

Never before had such a horde been seen at the amphitheater of city’s prestigious art museum, called the Huntington Galleries in those days, now the Huntington Museum of Art.

How did that weekend come to be? Let’s go back to the beginning.

For years, John Koenig and his wife-to-be, Barbara, had been regulars at the semi-annual music parties that our circle called “The Bowen Bashes.” And in those days, young Barbara worked at the Galleries on the staff of the museum’s director, the beloved Roberta Emerson.

Now, to understand this part of the story, you need to know a little something about Roberta. Even today — a quarter century after her death — Roberta Emerson still is a local legend because of all she did for her adopted hometown of Huntington.

Roberta firmly believed that an art museum should abstain from any form of elitism; instead it should try to attract all the community’s residents to enjoy its many treasures. So when she heard her friend Barbara raving about the good times she had had at the latest Bowen Bash, Roberta’s ears perked up.

Thinking back to the rollicking folk music “hootenannies” of the 1950s and ‘60s, Roberta proposed that Barbara and John try to talk the whole gang into coming up to her house — that is, her museum and its lovely amphitheater — to put on a free concert.

Actually, it didn’t take much persuading. In fact, everybody loved the idea, and we staged the first public Bowen Bash on July 30, 1977.

David Peyton and Charlie Bowen kicked off the weird and wonderful evening with a few tunes, then we gradually stirred in more musicians.

First, The Flood came together, with Joe Dobbs and Stew Schneider joining Dave and Charlie at the mike. Click the button below to hear a tune from The Flood's set, Joe taking the lead on “Sweet Georgia Brown.”

Before the night was over, dozens of local musicians crossed the stage, starting with The Kentucky Foothill Ramblers (at left, H. David Holbrook, Bill Hoke and Susan Lewis), then the Samples Brothers (at right, Mack and Rog with Joe on fiddle).

John Koenig came on to do some Front Royal songs with Charlie and Stew…

… and the night ended with a massive sing-along reminiscent of those old hootenanny days of the 1960s.

That summer night was such a good time that we had to keep it going.

Roberta brought us back for a second public bash in August 1978 and another in September 1979. Shoot, once we even took the show in the road, staging another version of the do in Charleston in the theater of the then-new West Virginia Cultural Center.

For all these shows, the regulars were on hand as well as some wonderful guest artists.

For instance, the inaugural public bash was the first performance we have on tape of our old friend, guitarist/singer Bob Toothman, and a sweet, pure mountain dulcimer performance by Jack Nuckols, and it was only time we got to hear from late Ashland, Ky., singer Dan Gore, who honored us with some classic blues. We even had an international connection, when Joe Dobbs introduced us to visiting Australians Rod and Judy Jones who wowed us with their traditional banjo-fiddle duets.

Wish you could have been there? Well, fire up your time machine, grab you sunglasses and your bug spray and come on out! The video below — part of our Flood legacy films series — is all about those good ol’ public bashes. Enjoy.