Sweet memory. Sweet ladies. Sweet tune.

#11 / Flood Time Capsule: 2007

Kathy Castner has never been a member of The Flood, but she has always been one of our favorite visiting singers ever since she first sang with the band 14 years ago tonight.

The Christmas season usually brings Kathy to Huntington to visit her cousin (and honorary big brother), Charlie. For that December 2007 trip, Flood Fan Extraordinaire Rose Marie Riter said, "We gotta celebrate with a party." Now, as everyone knows, when Miz Rose wants something to happen, it usually does, and Rose made this night especially memorable.

While Kathy has a beautiful voice, inherited from her mom, she has always a bit shy about performing in public, but encouraged by the band -- and perhaps fortified with an eggnog or two (we can't remember, and wouldn't tell if we did) -- she stepped up and brought down the house with her spot-on vocals.

A bit later, urged particularly by her super-fan, fiddler Joe Dobbs, Kathy sat in with The Flood at a rehearsal. From that same evening, recorded by the good and noble Bo Sweeney and featuring Joe, Doug, Bub and Charlie in the supporting cast, here’s Kathy’s rendition of “Loving Arms":