John Hammond, Jr. on the TV show Austin City Limits, a couple of decades ago. I'd heard and enjoyed blues before that, but this performance pulled me in definitively.

Purists may scoff at this. But it's because of this experience that I have nothing but admiration for devoted revivalist or interpreters or whatever you may call them. I learned quickly that Hammond was a little rowboat in a big sea. I dove into books by Sam Charters and Paul Oliver, and music by Son House, Charley Patton, Robert and Tommy Johnson, etc. Though I already knew Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, I plunged more into Chicago blues, and the Kings. That TV broadcast was really the point where I said, "I'm going to take a closer look at this." I was just talking to my wife about this. She was there and now says, "Suddenly, you were spending a bunch of money on blues."

Michael Scully
Austin