A flood of emotion: Local band's video for song goes viral

During a band practice in the spring of 2015, when Evan Webb and Adam Hellman showed off to the rest of the Rural Route Ramblers one of their most polished original songs, they seemed proud.

Their goal had been to do right by their small-town roots in Illinois river communities with "Dry Up or Drown."

But when historic flooding hit the region months later, the song's video -- produced as the flood was happening -- went viral, taken up as an anthem of solidarity in the face of disaster.

Footage for "Dry Up or Drown" was shot by Reginald Miller amid the flood-stricken Southern Illinois towns of McClure, Gale, Tamms and Thebes on Dec. 30 and 31.

Webb, founder of Evan Webb and the Rural Route Ramblers, lives in McClure, and his fellow songwriter and bandmate Hellman hails from tiny Emden, Illinois.

Evan Webb sings in a scene shot in flood-stricken Thebes, Illinois, from the "Dry Up or Drown" music video. (Screen capture)

"It was really rooted in Evan's experience. I think he kind of took stock of what was around him and his past experiences [such as] the '93 and '11 floods, the closing of the prison in Tamms, [Illinois] and elementary school in his hometown, and the slow decline of some of the communities in the area because of those things ... and we tried to translate that as best we could," Hellman said.

"And, while the song is more explicitly written about life in some of these communities, it's really a shared narrative with rural communities across the country. I saw a lot of my hometown in this story, too," Hellman added.

Many of the band's members helped sandbag and prepare parts of southeast Cape Girardeau in late December as the water levels and expected crests rose.

"Naturally, Evan's been doing that every time it's necessary, probably since he was old enough to shovel, because he, and everyone else in those towns, is trying to save his home. It was a relatively new experience for me," Hellman said. "I threw bags down at Dutchtown in 2011, but I've never really experienced the threat in a way as directly as the folks on that side of the river seem to do every couple of years. It was cool watching everyone come together. It's not an easy task. ... My back paid for it the next day."

But being musicians, they had something else to offer and posted a video for the song on social media.

Adam Hellman, left, and Evan Webb, members of Evan Webb and the Rural Route Ramblers, listen to a track Sunday from the band's upcoming album at Blue Creek Production in Patton, Missouri. (Laura Simon)

"It was something I felt had to be said. It seems to me that if a sense of fellowship and of community don't exist, the quality of life in that community slowly losses the grandeur it once possessed," Webb said.

In the video, Webb is seen shuffling through a flooded town, gazing at a submerged playground and sitting in a church, contemplating the song's paradox -- that many farming towns often don't get enough water to stay viable, until they get too much.

"In regards to what inspired me to write the song, as I look around and I see the decline socially, economically and culturally of small communities -- not only in the area in which I live, but all over the country -- it's disheartening to me. When the flood of 2011 came through, yet again this area was faced with the threat of everything being destroyed. That is initially when I believe the idea 'Dry Up or Drown' came to me," Webb said.

"I had written out a few lines and kept the idea close, but it never seemed to quite do justice to the picture I was trying to paint. So one day, I sat down with Adam and told him my idea and sang him some of the words I had at that time. He liked the idea of the song, and we quickly set into writing a new version of the song which is what you hear today."

The video, posted on YouTube on Jan. 1, racked up nearly 28,000 views in less than two weeks.

"It has gone way beyond what I could have ever imagined, considering the 500 views I thought the video would get," Webb said.

"Since we posted the video, the best way to describe it is overwhelming (in a good way). We certainly didn't anticipate the grass-roots response we got, and it's because of all of those likes/shares/word-of-mouth that the song was able to reach so many people. So we really have everyone out there to thank for that," Hellman said.

"All of that has led to radio play, media interest and even mentions on national music sites, like Saving Country Music and Wide Open Country. It's definitely humbling when you think of how it got to that point."

The attention couldn't have come at a better time for the band, which recently finished producing a new album that will be released soon.

"I don't know if [the song] took on a new meaning after the recent flood, but I think its meaning was affirmed by it," Hellman said. "The way the people of those communities and people all over the region have responded to it kind of affirms that."

The band plans to give back to the community whatever it can.

"There are a lot of people hurting right now, especially down in Olive Branch," Hellman said of the flood-plagued Southern Illinois community.

"Knowing how and why "Dry Up or Drown" took off like it did, we feel like it's the right thing to do to take some of the money we might make -- we haven't made anything off of it yet -- and put it toward the cause of helping some of those affected get their lives back to normal. We're still exploring how to do that, but it's in the plan," he said.

"I guess what I want to say most of all is thank you to everyone that has involved themselves in this success. It is not lost on us, 'Evan Webb and The Rural Route Ramblers' ... Tim Morrison, Justin Boswell, Adam Hellman and I, that there are people in need during these hard times. They have taken time to help us to succeed, so we would like to do the same for them," Webb said.

All the new -- and old -- fans of Evan Webb and the Rural Route Ramblers can hear them play the song live Friday at Rhymer's on the Plaza in Cape Girardeau.

"To say the least, it's been an overwhelmingly great experience, and I'm glad. I can't even begin to thank all the people that have made this song what it is today. Whatever its future may be, they are the reason all this is happening," Webb said. "I just sing the song."

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627

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