Jam Logs, the Podcast of The 1937 Flood

Hoagy Carmichael tunes have always been on The Flood playlist. We can’t remember when started doing “Up a Lazy River,” and nearly 20 years ago Joe Dobbs had us doing “Stardust” to record on what would become his favorite solo CD, “Fiddle and The Flood.” Well, lately another Hoagy Carmichael composition, “Georgia on My Mind,” had been circling back into the Flood’s stream of consciousness. Here’s our take on the tune at the beginning of a rehearsal a few weeks ago. As the track begins, Randy, Paul, Doug and Charlie already already in their seats. Then mid-song, you can hear Sam arrive, find out the key — “We’re in C, Sam!” — and immediately take a solo. That’s our Sam. By the way, about “Georgia," Hoagy Carmichael was already an established professional songwriter when he penned this melody in early 1930 and played at a party at which an old college friend, Stuart Gorrell from Indiana University, heard it. The story goes that Stuart and Hoagy stayed up all night working on the song, and Gorrell ended up writing the lyrics. Incidentally, Stuart Gorrell later became a banker and never wrote another lyric in his life. Too bad! Meanwhile, “Georgia on My Mind” was recorded 88 years ago this week by Hoagy and his orchestra with jazz legend Bix Beiderbecke on muted cornet. It was Bix’s last recording session. It’s part of the reason that “Georgia” just stays on our mind.