Well, this is something! I was around the Bay Area in the ’70s and caught Lawrence Hammond and the Whiplash Band multiple times at various clubs, always an enjoyable show for me and my then-wife. Then he just vanished from the music scene and I had always wondered what the hell happened. I Moved up to Montana in 2006. About 10 days ago my girl and I went to an outdoor restaurant near Missoula after a round of golf where a local cowgirl Charla Baumann was playing (a couple rock tunes, a lot of classic country). Accompanying her on fender telecaster (some blistering chops there too!) and singing harmony (and occasional lead on a Bill Monroe tune and one Hank Williams) was a skinny gray-haired guy in jeans, western shirt, and boots. The 2 of them were pretty good and their arrangements were quite inventive. As we were leaving I glanced down at the handbill they had by the stage and it said the guy was Lawrence Hammond. I was kind of amazed to see him obviously quite content to be a backing picker. I lingered a bit, in hopes of chatting him up, but they were less than halfway through their 2nd set and we had to move on. Tonight I finally got around to looking him up and came across this thread, which is honestly quite remarkable and provides all kinds of answers from myriad sources. Thanks to everybody who’s posted. I plan on going to see these two play next time they are in Missoula.