Tuesday 3 February 2015

DAVE HANNAGAN AND ANDY O’DONNELL – ST. JAMES INFIRMARY BLUES

A tough day at the office

A while back Andy and Dave dropped by The Shed, sat down with their acoustics, and played a couple of tunes. 
It is a rare pleasure to hear Dave sing. 
When he and Andy launched into St. James Infirmary, we thought “this is going to be good”. And it was. 
Have a listen – click HERE
Dave and Andy have each been contributing to Shed goings-on for a while now. We are humbled.. St. James Infirmary is the third song we have posted featuring Dave, who is considered by many local musicians as friend, mentor, and source of musical knowledge. 
Click HERE to find your way to Dave’s other two PBGB Shed recordings thus far. 
Dave has been a guiding light for Andy ever since Andy was a little tacker, so it is a rare treat to sit and watch these two make music together. 
Thanks Andy.......thumbs up sir!
Andy is one of the Bega Valley’s most popular musos. He plays here, he plays there, he plays most everywhere. Stare at a stage around here for long enough and Andy is sure to appear! You can read more about Andy’s musical exploits by clicking HERE. St. James Infirmary is Andy’s second PBGB posting. Click on the tune Always A Way in the PBGB Juke Box on the left of your screen to hear what happened when we were fortunate enough to have Andy sing and musically direct the PBGB original tune ‘Always A Way’. 
And by the way, you can catch a glimpse of Andy shaking his arm off on the video of Big Car No Shoes which appears immediately below this post. The vid was shot at Andy and Lyn’s fabulous Cheeky Mango Cafe
So it is always a great pleasure to have these guys turn up at The Shed, and we look forward to more visits..............any time boys !! 
St. James Infirmary is a true blues classic. No-one knows for sure who wrote it, so it is often credited as ‘traditional’. What we do know is that it was a very popular song with jazz bands back in the 1920’s. Versions were released by such luminaries as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway. More recently it has been covered my artists including Lou Rawls, Van Morrison, Rickie Lee Jones, and The White Stripes. 
Great versions they may be, but around these here parts we know many a local will be blown away by Dave and Andy’s interpretation. Enjoy !!