Benny Gallagher

We enjoyed the concert at Woodend Barn last night. I always like it when older musicians tell you stories about the old days in between the music. Benny was more of a songwriter than singer - his erstwhile partner, Graham Lyle took on the main singing duties at the height of their popularity - check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgItntk5kTE&feature=related and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallagher_%26_Lyle

His encore last night was the McGuinness Flint number one from 1970 but he prefaced it with a lengthy dialogue about Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup and an Elvis connection:

He had earlier told a nice tale about the late Ronnie Lane, a hero of mine. I hadn't realised that he had played on Slim Chance's "How Come" hit - this was the only song he did last night that he hadn't had a hand in writing. He talked about Ronnie dancing across the stage with his "educated left foot" leading - I trawled my old Small Faces and Faces videos but couldn't find much evidence of this. See for yourself on this You Tube clip - Benny Gallagher is playing accordion and Graham Lyle is on mandolin, with Ronnie Lane singing: