Ray Condo’s Take
January 10, 2006 by nonotes
A previously unheard (by me, I mean) version of “St. James Infirmary” came to my attention recently by way of Matt Cahill, of Perth, Australia. Mr. Cahill plays lead guitar for a rockabilly band there called Rusty and the Dragstrip Trio. Cahill is partial to Ray Condo’s take on “St. James Infirmary.” I wasn’t familiar with Condo, but it turns out he does a nice, traditional take on it, with an appealing fidddle part, on a 1993 album called Hillbilly Holiday. Condo was a Canadian musician who died in 2004, and the bio on his official home page is a Globe and Mail article written by none other than my old pal Carl Wilson. How about that. Thank you, Mr. Cahill.
A couple of years ago I did some research into the song "St. James Infirmary," wrote up what I found, emailed that essay to friends and posted it on my web site (as part of a series of "Letters From New Orleans," as I was living in that city at the time). Based on the feedback, I wrote a second version of the essay, and asked for more feedback. Based on that, I wrote a 
