Obit: John Paul Hammond, blues singer 1942-2026

Subject: Obit: John Paul Hammond, blues singer
From: keberoxu
Date: 06 Mar 26 - 07:07 PM

I can't link to it, but John Paul Hammond
rated an obituary in the New York Times this week.
He must have moved in the same Greenwich Village circles as Roy Book Binder, who has a separate obituary thread.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Paul Hammond, blues singer
From: PHJim
Date: 06 Mar 26 - 09:46 PM

I have had the opportunity to see John Hammond live a few times during my life, all great shows. The last time was at Victoria Hall in Cobourg, Ontario about a decade ago. I have never seen one of his electric shows. They have all been acoustic and not plugged in, but played through a mic.
My first exposure to his music was in the mid-sixties, during the Great Folk Scare on a Blues At Newport LP.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Paul Hammond, blues singer '42-2026
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Mar 26 - 10:00 PM

John P. Hammond, Pioneer in 1960s Blues Renaissance, Dies at 83
With his acclaimed interpretations of Delta Blues standards, he was a fixture on the Greenwich Village music scene for decades.

March 4, 2026

John P. Hammond, a singer and guitarist whose virtuosic performances of classic Delta blues tunes in the coffeehouses of Greenwich Village in the 1960s helped instigate a renaissance in blues music, died on Saturday in Jersey City, N.J. He was 83. His wife, Marla Hammond, said his death, in a hospital, was from cardiac arrest.

Through his father and namesake, who had been an influential jazz, blues and folk producer, Mr. Hammond encountered a wide variety of music. Paul Robeson was his godfather, and the swing-era band leader Benny Goodman was his uncle by marriage. From a young age, he was entranced by the blues. “When I first heard blues, I was completely turned on to it, and it became larger than life,” he told The Colorado Springs Independent in 2010. “And then it became my life.”

Soft-spoken in interviews, Mr. Hammond exploded onstage, with a rollicking barrelhouse style and an unexpectedly guttural voice that impressed veteran musicians. “Man, I don’t know where you learned this stuff,” he remembered being told by Pops Staples of the Staple Singers, “but don’t ever stop doing it.”

To many white audiences, blues in the early 1960s was still an obscure genre, even as they embraced other forms of traditional American music, like folk and old time.

In Manhattan, Mr. Hammond became a fixture in the coffeehouses and nightclubs of Greenwich Village, playing songs by artists like Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James and Robert Johnson.

Mr. Hammond often used an acoustic steel guitar, made by the National Reso-Phonic Co., that was seven years older than he was. Sometimes, he played harmonica. Usually, he played alone.

The rest is at the link.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Paul Hammond, blues singer
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 07 Mar 26 - 05:56 AM

He used to appear at the the Cellar Door in D.C. billed as John Hammond Jr., his father being the famous Columbia Records exec who was credited with discovering Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan and Stevie Ray Vaughn, among others.
I chatted with him once at the upstairs bar at Tobacco Road in Miami and was surprised to find him so thoughtful and urbane after seeing him go into beast mode in his first set. When he launched into a song he was like a man possessed.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Paul Hammond, blues singer
From: meself
Date: 07 Mar 26 - 02:34 PM

Great Bluesman. Saw him once in a big, loud bar on Yonge Street, in Toronto, which didn't have a real stage, and was a terrible venue for a guy with no more than an acoustic guitar (and a sound system). He soldiered on, while the crowd pretty much ignored him. Hope he didn't have too many gigs like that one.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Paul Hammond, blues singer
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Mar 26 - 06:15 PM

I had the pleasure of seeing play a couple of times. Decades ago with electric Hot Tuna, and once solo. An amazing blues performer.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Paul Hammond, blues singer
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Mar 26 - 05:37 PM

I had the great pleasure of seeing him perform several times. The one that sticks in my memory was back in the seventies, when he was opening for a big name blues player on a tour of Canada and the US. The "big name" (who shall remain nameless in this post) had recently been injured in a car accident, had tried to return to performing too soon, and wasn't physically up to the challenge.

After Hammond's opening set. The backup band came out and played six or seven numbers (and very good they were). Then the Big Name came out, sang two songs, and left. When it became clear that the concert was effectively over, the crowd did the standing ovation/we want an encore bit, and wouldn't stop. The house lights came on, and the clapping continued. Most of the crowd gave up, but about eighty or one hundred people continued to hang in there.

After about fifteen minutes of this, John Hammond came back onto the stage, dressed in jeans and a T shirt, and carrying his acoustic guitar. There was no sound system, no mike, and the house lights were still on. He pulled a stool out to the very front of the stage, and proceeded to do a long acoustic set surrounded by the holdouts from the audience. It was a great experience, and he was a classy musician..