John Hammond

You’re Doin’ Fine – Blues at the Boarding House, June 2^nd & 3^rd, 1973

Owsley Stanley Foundation

The Owsley Stanley Foundation, created in memory of Owsley ‘Bear’ Stanley,” the Grateful Dead’s first sound engineer among other colorful exploits, has blessed everyone with an ear for American blues music with this handsomely packaged release. Complete with a 60-page booklet of informative notes, You’re Doin’ Fine – Blues at the Boarding House, June 2^nd & 3^rd, 1973, presents three CDs of John Hammond wowing a small crowd at a San Francisco nightclub in voice, and on National Reso-Phonic guitar and harmonica. Ten years earlier, Hammond released his self-titled debut, now recognized as the first authentic blues album by a white artist. Hammond’s uncanny knack for country blues was instilled in him in 1950 when his father, the noted producer John Hammond, Sr., took him at seven years old to see Big Bill Broonzy.

Hammond moves listeners’ hearts and souls and hands and feet all the way through these 45 songs, only ten of which are repeated over the two dates. The late Mr. Stanley’s repute as one of the best in the business to capture a moment bears out in edge-of-your-seat, ‘what’s next’ entertainment. That the Foundation chose to leave the in-between song banter, tunings, and space, in place, generally a drag on an album, only enhances the immediacy of this experience and gives insight into Hammond’s personality.

John Hammond did not write songs until much later in his career, and had no need to. He proves himself such a skilled interpreter that he is now considered a singular voice in the blues, literally and figuratively. Singing in an appealing, quavering voice (the deep nuances in it continued to develop over time), he adds ideal embellishments on harp when the song calls for it. Hammond’s impressive dexterity on guitar was in full flower here. Such clean, beautiful notes decorate his worrying take on Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “Death Bells,” and his fleet-fingered intensity on “Preachin’ Blues” transforms the old Son House standard into something novel. For Willie Dixon’s “Shake for Me,” he retains the pace of the electrified, funky version he had cut for his 1969 album Southern Fried with Duane Allman on guitar, but the stripped nature of it in this context outshines that.

Unsurprisingly, Hammond plays six Robert Johnson songs. Although legions of artists have covered Johnson and have perhaps attempted to reach the legend’s singular place within one of his songs, no one has yet to get there. But Hammond gets close, with runs through “Traveling Riverside Blues” and “Malted Milk” standing particularly tall.

The 82-year-old John Hammond’s last studio album was the Grammy-nominated Rough & Tough, released in 2009. He rarely plays anymore. But one can tell in listening to You’re Doin’ Fine – Blues at the Boarding House, June 2nd & 3rd, 1973 that blues music lived—and likely still lives—inside him. He certainly did just fine with it, right here.

Tom Clarke for MAS

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