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Concert Fri Feb 01 2008
John Hammond @ Schubas
John Hammond is a fascinating individual. Son of that “other” John Hammond (the late producer, musician and talent scout credited with discovering Pete Seeger, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan and others) as well as a member of the Vanderbilt family, John Paul Hammond has been a blues singer and guitarist since he released the first of his 29 albums in 1962. While never fully embraced commercially, his success comes from a small but strong fan base and one can-you-believe-it story: apparently, he’s the only person who can claim to have had both Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix in his band at the same time.
I came to John Hammond through my own adoration of his good buddy, Tom Waits, who produced 2001’s Wicked Grin, a complete collection of Waits covers. On that record, Hammond doesn’t even try to match Waits’ foot-stomping, balladeering brilliance, instead turning every track into a shaking boogie-woogie, owning the songs like all the great blues musicians do. In fact, what continually impresses me about that effort is its remarkable cohesion. While the songs are Waits, the stamp is all Hammond and Wicked Grin is both an ode to a friend and a swing for the fence.
This Saturday, Hammond stops into town for a special evening at Schubas, where he'll be playing cuts from last year's Push Comes to Shove. Tickets are $20 and the show starts at 7:30pm.