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The Tale Behind The Tune: "Floods"
by George Bancroft
 I first noticed Mike McClure’s name shortly after I started producing and hosting The Texas Tunesmith radio show in 2004. His name seemed to be popping up everywhere. I saw Mike McClure credited as the producer on a couple Cross Canadian Ragweed records, then on a Jason Boland and the Stragglers CD. While researching different acts, I poked around on the internet to look at various music venue calendars and found that Mike was performing around Texas. I sent an email to someone somewhere to see if I could get him on the show, but he was between publicists at the time, so I moved on to folks who were easier to reach.
About a year ago, I decided to do a show on Darren Kozelsky. I got my hands on a pre-release copy of Darren’s Let Your Mind Fly CD. The copy I got didn’t have any liner notes, just the CD. I’d been made aware that McClure produced the record, but I was surprised to learn when I interviewed Darren, that Mike also wrote about half the songs on the recording. I enjoyed everything on Darren’s CD, but I was particularly enamored with the cuts penned by McClure. I knew then that I had to track the man down and pick his brain about his songwriting.
A few months ago, I finally put together a show around McClure and the songs on his Foam CD. During the course of an interview with Mike, I asked which of his songs might be more special to his fans than the others. Almost immediately he responded, “Floods.” Here’s what he had to say about the tune:
“I originally recorded “Floods” for the Afterglow album when I was with The Great Divide. I always liked that song and that’s one that people always requested everywhere I went. It just kind of seemed to resonate with people. When I wrote that song, the band I was with, we were leaving Atlantic Records and going back to being on our own, independent. I was just kind of mad at the whole process, dealing with the label. Sometimes they can be pretty mechanical. I didn’t feel that they did very much for us, and I was pretty frustrated. I think that song appeals to a lot of people because it’s vague enough to fit whatever they’re going through, and the lyrics are ambiguous enough to fit any kind of circumstance.”
Some folks have asked me lately if I thought the Texas Music scene is dying. I’m not sure how to answer that question. I try to pay little or no attention to “the scene;” however, I pay a great deal of attention to the songs, and I believe that Texas Music will do well when the songs are good. That was true when Bob Wills was playing his music. It was true in the 70s. It’s true today, and the future will follow suit. Any decent sideman will tell you that it’s hard to play tasteful music to a lousy song.
Mike McClure writes songs as well as anyone anywhere. As long as guys like Mike are making frequent contributions to Texas Music, Texas Music will be just fine. If there is a problem with the state of Texas Music, it might be that there are just a lot of records being made and promoted.
I love songwriters like farmers love the rain, and no farmer ever complained about having too much rain. I’m not complaining about having a truckload of songwriters running around; I’m making an observation. Folks are belching out songs and CDs like frat boys at a keg party. Here’s another observation. Mike was right: “Floods” does fit any kind of circumstance, including the circumstance that anyone in the business of Texas Music is in right now. So, if you’re looking for some insight into whether or not the Texas Music scene is dying, just read the lyrics to Mike McClure’s "Floods."
George Bancroft lives in Big Spring, Texas. He has a radio show called The Texas Tunesmith and can be heard at KBST 95.7, Saturday and Sunday evenings, and on the internet on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. (CST) on tossmradio.com.
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