December 1963, a folk trio performed in Threadgill’s Tavern, in Austin Texas. An Amex portable reel-to-reel tape recorder caught part of their performance, which included “St. James Infirmary.” The trio, The Waller Creek Boys Plus One, consisted of Lanny Wiggins on guitar, Powell St. John playing harmonica, and Janis Joplin on guitar, autoharp, and vocals.
The three were students at the University of Texas. Joplin was nineteen years old, and five years away from the release of her first album.
A dozen years ago I found a physical copy of this song. It was on a flexi-disc, available from Tokyo. Recently I had it copied as a WAV file, and now as a much smaller MP3.
Here it is, below, along with an abbreviated “Walk Right In.” The latter was first recorded by Cannon’s Jug Stompers in 1929 and became a big hit for The Rooftop Singers in 1963.
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Janis Joplin at UT in 1962 |
