Honey, Where You Been So Long? » Search Results » st. james infirmary

Standing Pat: The St. James Infirmary Blues Appendix

peter patnaik — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 06:00:16 +0000

This is the final release of The St. James Infirmary collection here at Honey. There are some real gems in this group, Blind Willie McTell, Jimmie Rodgers and Two Gallants are my favorites in this batch. Thanks again to all the readers who submit files – This couldn’t have come together without ya’ll.

So Young, So Cold , So Fair : The Saint James Infirmary Blues

peter patnaik — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:51:55 +0000

I’m happy to present So Young, So Cold, So Fair: The Saint James Infirmary Blues, a collection of songs of loss and love regarding The St. James Infirmary. Honey was established over four (!) years ago around the idea that it was too hard actually listen to pre-war blues without buying out of print or import blues records. I try to present the music on this site without too much editing – I don’t make everyone suffer through every single female blues side I get my hands on (though you might think so by reading my email) and as everyone points out I haven’t posted Robert Johnson (This is changing soon) but I think most blues collections have covered the basics to death – and that my site as the next step where you can hear Jessie Derrick and not just Ma Rainey.

This idea of presenting the blues then evolved into I really want to listen to 80 versions of Stagolee and 100 versions of St. James Infirmary right now. With these large collections I don’t edit for quality – The Doors version on here is almost as bad as the Beach Boys take on Stagolee – thought the quality of St. James Songs is far higher than Stagolee. By far. Enjoy!

Notes:
1. A BIG thanks for everyone who contributed to this collection – it would of have been twenty versions by Jack Teagarden with out you.
2. The numbering is off because I didn’t remove duplicates until after I ordered and numbered the tracks.
3. There will be an appendix with Dock Boggs and a few other people released later.
4. Please share the page, not the links.

St. James Preview !!!

peter patnaik — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:55:13 +0000

For those who have donated – the full download for the St. James Infirmary is ready to be downloaded here. If you contributed, and haven’t donated, please send me an email and I’ll send you a password.
I’m working on a post for everyone else with each track being able to be donwloaded – but it is taking sometime to type in all those hyperlinks!

Enjoy!

Update: link fixed.

In My Ten Dollar Stetson Hat

peter patnaik — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:12:13 +0000

A few years ago we did a weeks worth of Stagolee tracks to much success, this year I hope to collect a number of versions of St. James Infirmary Blues as well as Dying Crapshooter Blues. I’m working on compiling a list of what i have (around 70-80 tracks so far), but unlike Stagolee which for as much as it was sung – it had a much more limited audience than St. James. I’m going to contact Rob Walker who wrote an amazing essay on the subject and who also maintains No Notes dedicated to the song and music in New Orleans.

Please send mp3s to pkpatnaik @ prewarblues.org

below is a the St. James Infirmary section of Betty Boop’s Snow White

I Got Diamonds On My Hands Now

peter patnaik — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 03:56:02 +0000

I have added a verification box to the comments section. Basically you have to enter the phrase in the box to prove that you are a real person and not a machine sent to wreck my comments section with ads for various pills and other things not related to blues. Of course if you are a machine – and you have learned to read letters in boxes, my site is yours to wreck.

Way back in ’04 I posted a track by the Hokum Boys which was the Georgia based group featuring Blind Blake and Black Rob, these Hokum Boys were session players in the Chicago jazz scene and were thrown together as a quick cash in the Hokum craze. I’m not the biggest Hokum fan around, but regular Honey readers will know I do love a good version of the Gambler’s Blues also known as St. James Infirmary. These Hokum Boys recorded two takes on the song and both are fantastic and feature some non standard instrumentation for the song – No. 2 features a great banjo lead and No. 1 has a little Spanish influence in the guitar runs, though I think the vocal preformance really steals the show from the guitar/piano work.

The Hokum Boys – Gambler’s Blues (1929)
The Hokum Boys – Gambler’s Blues No. 2 (1929)