John Paul Hammond   [1942]

John Paul Hammond is a musician of note. He is known as a blues singer and guitarist and has accumulated a noted list of recordings. He plays acoustically, sings in a barrelhouse style and uses guitars made by National Reso-Phonic Guitars. He made his debut in 1962 on Vanguard Records. Since then he has made 34 albums. In the 1990’s he switched to the Point Blank Records label. He has received recognition from his peers with a Grammy award and nominations for four others.

In the early part of the 1990’s Hammond hosted the 1991 United Kingdom television documentary “The Search for Robert Johnson” about the life of Delta Bluesman Robert Johnson. In 2001 he released “Wicked Grain”, an album entirely composed by Tom Waits with one exception. In 2002 he released “Ready for Love”, produced by David Hidalgo. It included a version of “The Spider and the Fly” written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. In 2009 he released “Rough and Tough”. It was nominated for a 2010 Grammy Award for Best Traditional blues album.

Hammond was born on November 13, 1942. He was the son of John Harry Hammond, a noted Columbia Records music talent scout, music producer and music critic. His mother was Jemison McBride Hammond, an actress. His great grandmother was Emily Thorn Vanderbilt, the daughter of William Henry Vanderbilt, the successor of Cornelius Vanderbilt in the management and development of the Vanderbilt railroad empire. He grew up following the parents’ divorce and only saw his father a few times each year.

Hammond never got his college degree. He attended Antioch College for only one year and dropped out to pursue a music career. It is interesting that his father did the same thing. His father, however, was closer to completing his college studies and dropped out in the last year of the four-year program. He began playing the guitar while still in high school and was inspired by the album “Jimmie Reed at Carnegie Hall”.

Hammond is critically acclaimed but only has received moderate commercial success. He has earned respect from such performers as John Lee Hooker, Roosevelt Sykes, Duane Allman, Robbie Robertson and Charlie Musselwhite through their support for his work in contributing their talents to Hammond’s albums.

Hammond’s first three albums were “Big City Blues”, “Country Blues” and “John Hammond” in 1964. Others among numerous others were “Source Point” in 1970, “Can’t Beat the Kid” in 1975, “Hot Tracks” in 1979, “Spoonful” in 1984, “Nobody But You” in 1984, “Got Love If You Want It” in 1992, “Found True Love” in 1996, “At the Crossroads” in 2003 and “Rough and Tough” in 2009. In 2011 Hammond was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame of the Blues Foundation.

Hammond is currently in his second marriage. He married Dana McDevitt in 1967. They later divorced and he remarried in 1981 to Maria Hammond.

REFERENCES

Forman, Bill, “Tangled up in Blues: John Hammond recalls his meetings with Clapton, Hendrix, Dylan and Waits”, Colorado Springs Independent, January 28, 2010

Siomon, Scott, “John Hammond, Writing the Blues”, Weekend, February 17, 2007.

Various web sites including allmusic, Barnesandnoble, biography and wikipedia

 

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PROMINENT DUTCH AMERICANS IN U.S. GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP POSITIONS, 2015

 

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