As you probably already know, many Midwestern rivers have overflowed their banks and broken through protective levees after months of heavier than normal precipitation. The massive havoc wreaked by these disastrous floods continues to plague Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin.
Entire towns have been flooded, thousands of homes, businesses and vehicles have been ruined, crops have been devastated and fertile top soil has been washed away. This post is dedicated to all those whose lives have been made more difficult by the floods.
Below are three songs describing the disastrous results of earlier floods. The remote Tug Valley is in Kentucky and West Virginia and is where the feuding Hatfield and McCoy families lived. The flood Jimmy Wolford sings about took place in 1977. Following both sides of Wolford's 45 is a tune about the powerful floods that soaked central Virginia in the aftermath of Hurricane Camille. As this historical marker attests, over 25 inches of rain hammered the area on August 20, 1969.
Jimmy Wolford - The Tug Valley Flood Song (4:00)
Jimmy Wolford - The Nightmare Is Over (4:02)
Gracie Allen & Charlotte Barnes - Virginia's Flood Of '69 (3:21)
Virginia's Flood Of '69 (MP3s) is good. The sites are also good.
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Joseph
Posted by: Virginia Alcohol Addiction Treatment | August 30, 2008 at 01:50 AM
I was a fan of Jimmy Wolford as a kid growing up in Pike County. I recall several of his songs on an album he gave to my father. "Will there be any red dog in heaven" was the title of one of the tunes. I believe Jimmy was a great influence on me and my love for bluegrass music.
Keith O. Roberts ACM IBMA NMP
Posted by: Keith O. Roberts ACM IBMA NMP | June 28, 2009 at 05:35 PM
@Keith: Ah I remember it well. Will there be any red dog in Heaven over on that golden shore? Will we all congregate up in Heaven with Jack Blackburn and Claude Varney 'round the Piggly Wiggly store?
Posted by: PC Boy | August 12, 2009 at 12:28 PM
Hey, do you know anything more about the "Virginia's Flood of '69" song? I think that's my Aunt Charlotte singing on it. Is it *the* Gracie Allen she's singing with?
Posted by: Brad Barnes | January 19, 2010 at 09:05 PM