John Hammond

From coffeehouses to concert halls and festivals, blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, John Hammond has spent forty years performing intense, solo-acoustic blues, entertaining blues, folk and rock audiences around the world. A Grammy Award winner and four-time nominee, Hammond is also a multiple W.C. Handy award winner who has shared the stage and/or recorded with many of the masters, including Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker and Howlin’ Wolf. In 1990, Outpost presented him in a historic KiMo Theatre concert shared with Johnny Shines and Pops Staples. Now 64, Hammond has recorded 30 albums and his passionate commitment to traditional blues led to his hosting the BRAVO TV special, The Search for Robert Johnson. His 2003 release, Ready for Love, produced by David Hidalgo of Los Lobos was the follow up to Wicked Grin, produced by longtime friend Tom Waits featuring all-Waits songs. His latest CD, Push Comes to Shove, features many songs written by Hammond himself. He says, “I’m new at songwriting … just getting the hang of it. I was always a little bit intimidated writing songs because I knew so many people who wrote so well and it just flowed through them. For me, I knew so many great songs; I didn’t feel my calling was necessarily songwriting. That said, in the last few years, and thanks to coaxing from my wife Marla, I’ve found my voice and it’s been delightful.”

$25/$20 Members. Available in advance, by phone or in person, at the Outpost Performance Space (268-0044)