This tune — “July, You’re a Woman” — entered the Floodisphere in the first hours of The 1937 Flood’s half-century origin story.
As reported earlier, this lovely John Stewart composition is one of the songs that Charlie Bowen brought to his very first jam session with the late David Peyton at the 1973 New Year’s Eve where The Flood was born.
For that first year, the song limped along as just a duet by Dave and Charlie. It started coming into its own, though, as the Family Flood began to expand. First, Roger Samples returned to the Huntington area from the East and joined the band, bringing his formable guitar chops and vocals. A year later, fiddler Joe Dobbs came on board, and the rest is Flood history.
Debut at the Bash
”July, You’re a Woman” got its debut as a Flood feature that fall at the next edition of the Bowen Bashes, the semiannual music parties at which The Flood became the house band. Audio of that inaugural 1975 performance is captured in the video below:
The song remained a Flood favorite throughout the Bash years, but when the band went into an extended hiatus in the 1980s, the song seemed to go with it.
“July” Redux
In fact, “July” completely disappeared from The Flood’s collective memory until three decades later.
Only recently, in a bit of nostalgia for those halcyon days of the band’s birth, did Charlie start revisiting some of the group’s earliest tunes. Topping the list was one of his favorites, that old John Stewart song.
It’s grin-worthy to imagine how much Dave, Roger and Joe would appreciate the latest generation of Floodsters and their kind treatment of this first tune, as heard at last week’s rehearsal.
And Remember “These Boys”
And speaking of origin stories, remember that the Huntington premiere of Randy Yohe’s award-winning film, “These Boys” — tracing The Flood’s 50-year story — happens March 20, 2026, at the Foundry Theatre at City Hall, 800 Fifth Avenue.
In case you missed it earlier, click here to read Jim Casto’s Herald-Dispatch advance on the showing.
