And now for something completely different...

[Will Fly]

I've been working a lot recently with a fine anglo concertina player called Alan Day. Here's an offering in quite a different style from what I usually post:

Blue Skies

"Blue Skies" was written by Irving Berlin in 1926 and is performed here by Alan Day on Anglo concertina and Will Fly on acoustic guitar.

Alan is one of the finest exponents of the Anglo concertina in Britain and, as well as playing all over Europe, is the producer of the "Anglo International" and "English International" concertina CD compilations. You can see a playlist of Alan's work at:

Alan Day's playlist

Will

[BenF]

That's pretty cool Will. Looks like a lot of fun. You certainly make the very most out of your music!

[golfer]

You and Alan are a great team. I can tell you enjoy each others company.  Thanks for the show.

[dberch]

Now that's just pretty darn cool, Will and Alan. Thoroughly Enjoyed it!

David

[Will Fly]

There's an interesting story just attached itself to this video...

I got an email from a musician from New York State called Dave Ruch. He said he was coming over for a short tour of England and would I be anywhere near any of his venues (from an enclosed itinerary). Turned out he'd seen me and Al playing "Blue Skies" on YouTube and wondered if I could back him on "Sweet Georgia Brown". As it happened, his first date was at my local folk club of choice! So I said OK, and he emailed back asking of I could play it in F - most of his musical acquaintances only do it inG. I said, yes, I'd been playing it in F for 40 years...

So, last Wednesday, at the Royal Oak in Lewes, there we were - jamming on Sweet Georgia Brown! The internet, eh? It's transformed the way we live.

Cheers,

Will

[flatlander]

That's super cool, with the gig backup thing.  The neatest thing I had happen was looking at a page that had album covers on it. Just for the art. There was a little note that this artist's family was looking for other family members. This was the artist brother. Unfortunately artist had died BUT I had met someone, over the internet, that used to play with this friend. He was in California and knew how to get in touch with son's and a couple other family members. It resulted in a family reunion of of people who'd never even met, like the son's ,to people who hadn't seen each other since early 60's! (family/kids got split up)
Anyway, I've alway loved Blue Skies and it's fun to hear it done different ways.  Willies vocal version stands out, well they all do, just a good melody/song. Did you hear Thumbs version?
Thanks