So, just when I think I’m thoroughly on top of all “SJI” obsessiveness online and off, along comes an email from friend of this site Carl Wilson alerting me to the efforts of the site Honey, Where You Been So Long?
HWYBSL, as I’ll call it for simplicity’s sake, is devoted to all sorts of pre-war blues, but that has definitely included “SJI” and its variations.
Poking through the site, there’s a post from back in August of 2007 about the Hokum Boys’ two versions of “Gambler’s Blues.” A November post about Blind Willie “McTell’s Dyin’ Crapshooter Blues” (1940 version) followed.
Things heated up a bit in 2008. In March, HWYBSL announced it was compiling a sort of “SJI” master-list. (That post actually says the author intended to get in touch with me — if he did, I have no memory of it. But as will become clear, he hardly needed to!)
A preliminary list of 42 takes followed. Then 12 more. Soon the total reached 77 artists.
And finally: A stunning 121-take list in July, and a 38-song appendix in September!
Yes, there are versions here that I haven’t heard, and I’m working on rectifying that. (This also reminds me that I badly need to update my sidebar listing, which is missing a bunch of stuff that I’ve learned of or even written about since I last updated it. Just waiting for that big chunk of free time to emerge …)
Anyway, major kudos to HWYBSL — I recommend that site not just for “SJI,” but for a positive trove of musical exploration.
And big thanks to Carl for the pointer.
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 
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