World Premiere Video: AWB's Hamish Stuart pays honor on "No More Days"

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    (February 19, 2020) He has one of the most familiar voices in soul music. Hamish Stuart was the falsetto lead singer on so many of the smash hits of Average White Band, the recognizable lead in a series of funky upbeat numbers and smooth jams that we’re still listening to four decades later.

    After he left AWB, Hamish went on to front his own band and to become one of the most sought after musicians around, working with artists from Chaka Khan to Paul McCartney.

    Now, Hamish has recorded a live performance as prt of The Masterlink Sessions -- a collaboration between studio owner/recording engineer James Welch and producer/bassist/bandleader Stefan Redtenbacher where noted artists perform live and unrehearsed with a crackerjack band. We’ve featured a few of these performances with Mike Farris and Jo Harman, and SoulTrackers have gone bonkers over them.

    (February 19, 2020) He has one of the most familiar voices in soul music. Hamish Stuart was the falsetto lead singer on so many of the smash hits of Average White Band, the recognizable lead in a series of funky upbeat numbers and smooth jams that we’re still listening to four decades later.

    After he left AWB, Hamish went on to front his own band and to become one of the most sought after musicians around, working with artists from Chaka Khan to Paul McCartney.

    Now, Hamish has recorded a live performance as prt of The Masterlink Sessions -- a collaboration between studio owner/recording engineer James Welch and producer/bassist/bandleader Stefan Redtenbacher where noted artists perform live and unrehearsed with a crackerjack band. We’ve featured a few of these performances with Mike Farris and Jo Harman, and SoulTrackers have gone bonkers over them.

    In this edition, film maker Leo Mansell captures Hamish and the band performing a song he wrote in 2015, at a time of sadness, following the death of his best friend, Matt Irving. Hamish tells in an interview about the song, “I gave the eulogy at Matt’s funeral and as I was writing, thinking about the times we’d spent together getting our feet wet in our first bands and making our first records as Dream Police in 69/70 a lot of stuff came up. We’d both been big Dylan fans and I came across the transcript of a speech Dylan had made at a music industry charity event where he stated that he would cherish his long friendship with Johnny Cash ‘till there were no more days.’ What a wonderfully poetic way to describe that feeling and it needed to be a song so I resolved to work on it when I could and it came together.”  

    The sentiment behind the song is universal, but even more timely as AWB'ers mourn the death of longtime member Molly Duncan. And the performance by all the musician here is simply terrific. Check out “No More Days,” and welcome Hamish Stuart back to SoulTracks.

    By Chris Rizik

    World Premiere Video
    Hamish Stuart – “No More Days”

    Credits
    Hamish Stuart - vocals, guitar https://www.sulphuricrecords.co.uk/ 
    Tony Remy - guitar 
    Mike Outram - guitar https://www.mikeoutram.com/ 
    Dave Limina - Hammond organ 
    Mike Sturgis - drums https://mikesturgis.co.uk/ 
    Karl Vanden Bossche - percussion https://www.karlvandenbossche.com/ 
    Andreas See - tenor saxophone https://www.jazzodrom.net/ 
    Stefan Redtenbacher - bass, bandleader, co-producer https://www.redtenbachersfunkestra.com/
    Leo Mansell - video
    James Welch - recorded, mixed and mastered https://www.masterlinkproductions.co.uk/
     
    ‘No more days’ written by Hamish Stuart
    Published by Joe’s Songs administered by Wixen Music
    Arranged by Hamish Stuart
    Produced by Hamish Stuart and Stefan Redtenbacher