John P. Hammond

John Paul Hammond (November 13, 1942 – February 28, 2026) was an American blues singer and guitarist. 

He was the son of record producer John Henry Hammond Jr., and is sometimes referred to as John Hammond Jr. Hammond died on February 28, 2026.

Early life and education

Hammond was a son of record producer and talent scout John H. Hammond and his first wife, Jemison McBride, an actress. He was a descendant of Cornelius Vanderbilt, the patriarch of the prominent Vanderbilt family, through his paternal grandmother Emily Vanderbilt Sloane Hammond. He had a brother, Jason, and a stepsister, (Esme) Rosita Sarnoff, the daughter of his father's second wife, Esme O'Brien Sarnoff. John Paul Hammond's middle name was in honor of a friend of his father, the actor Paul Robeson. He grew up with his mother and only saw his father a few times a year while growing up.

He began playing guitar in high school, partially inspired by the album Jimmy Reed at Carnegie Hall. He attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio for a year but dropped out to pursue a music career. By the mid-1960s he was touring nationally and living in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, New York. He befriended and recorded with many electric blues musicians in New York, including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Levon Helm's New Hawks (later known as the Band), Mike Bloomfield, Dr. John, and Duane Allman.

Career

Hammond usually played acoustically, favoring National Reso-Phonic Guitars and singing in a barrelhouse style. Since 1962, when he made his debut on Vanguard Records, he recorded 34 albums. His 1963 debut album,John Hammond, was one of the first blues albums by a white artist.

He earned a Grammy Award in 1985 for his performance on Blues Explosion and was nominated for six others. In the early 1990s, he began recording for the Pointblank Records label. His version of Slim Harpo's "Got Love If You Want It" for them was a 1993 Grammy nominee. In 1970, he provided the soundtrack for the film Little Big Man, starring Dustin Hoffman.

Although critically acclaimed, Hammond received only moderate commercial success. Nonetheless, he enjoyed a strong fan base and earned respect from John Lee Hooker, Roosevelt Sykes, Duane Allman, Rory Gallagher, Willy Deville, Robbie Robertson, Mike Bloomfield and Charlie Musselwhite, all of whom contributed their musical talents to his records. In addition, Hammond was the only person who had both Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix in his band at the same time, if only for five days in the 1960s, when Hammond played The Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village. To his regret, they never recorded together. Hammond deserves some credit for helping boost the Band to wider recognition. He recorded with several members of the group in 1965 and recommended them to Bob Dylan, with whom they undertook a famed and tumultuous world tour.

Hammond hosted the 1991 UK television documentary The Search for Robert Johnson, detailing the life of the legendary Delta bluesman. Hammond had a longstanding friendship with the songwriter Tom Waits and performed Waits' songs on occasion. In 2001, he released Wicked Grin, an album consisting entirely of Waits' compositions, with one exception, the traditional spiritual, "I Know I've Been Changed". Waits played guitar and sang backing vocals on the album and was also its producer.

In 2003, he released Ready for Love, produced by David Hidalgo of Los Lobos. It included a Mick Jagger and Keith Richards song, "The Spider and the Fly". Hammond's 2009 album, entitled Rough & Tough, was a 2010 nominee for the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album. In 2011, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame of the Blues Foundation.

Personal life and death

Hammond married his third wife, Marla, in 2003. His first wife, Dana McDevitt, and he were married in 1967. In 1981, Hammond and his second wife, Peggy Spoerri, married.

John Hammond died on February 28, 2026.

Discography

• 1963 John Hammond (Vanguard Records)
• 1964 Big City Blues (Vanguard) – includes the first blues-rock cover of Willie Dixon's "Back Door Man", later made famous by the Doors.

• 1965 Country Blues (Vanguard)
• 1965 So Many Roads (Vanguard)
• 1967 Mirrors (Vanguard) – reissued on Real Gone Music in 2016.
• 1967 I Can Tell (Atlantic Records)
• 1968 Sooner or Later (Atlantic) – reissued on Water Music in 2002.
• 1969 Southern Fried (Atlantic) – reissued on Water Music in 2002.
• 1970 The Best of John Hammond (Vanguard) compilation
• 1971 Source Point (Columbia Records)
• 1971 Little Big Man / Original Soundtrack (Columbia)
• 1972 I'm Satisfied (Columbia)
• 1973 Triumvirate – with Mike Bloomfield and Dr. John (Columbia)
• 1975 Can't Beat the Kid (Capricorn Records) – reissued on PolyGram in 1997.
• 1976 John Hammond: Solo [live] (Vanguard)
• 1978 Footwork (Vanguard)
• 1979 Hot Tracks – with The Nighthawks (Vanguard)
• 1980 Mileage (Rounder Records)
• 1982 Frogs for Snakes (Rounder)
• 1983 John Hammond Live (Rounder)
• 1984 Spoonful (Edsel) – compilation
• 1988 Nobody but You (Flying Fish Records) – reissued on Pointblank Records/Virgin Records in 1996.
• 1992 Got Love if You Want It (Pointblank/Virgin)
• 1993 You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover (Vanguard) – compilation
• 1994 Trouble No More (Pointblank/Virgin)
• 1996 Found True Love (Pointblank/Virgin)
• 1998 Long As I Have You (Pointblank/Virgin)
• 2000 The Best of the Vanguard Years (Vanguard) – compilation
• 2001 Wicked Grin (Pointblank/Virgin)
• 2003 At the Crossroads: The Blues of Robert Johnson (Vanguard) – compilation
• 2003 Ready for Love (Back Porch Records/Narada)
• 2005 In Your Arms Again (Back Porch/Narada)
• 2006 Live in Greece [rec. 1983] (Dynamic/MSI)
• 2007 Push Comes to Shove (Back Porch/Narada)
• 2009 Rough & Tough (Chesky Records)
• 2014 Timeless [live] (Palmetto Records)
• 2019 "You Know That's Cold" b/w "Come To Find Out" [Translucent Blue 7" Single] (Need To Know)
• 2020 "My Baby Loves To Boogie" and "Told You Once In August" (featuring Rory Block) with Dion from Blues with Friends
• 2024 Bear's Sonic Journals: You're Doin' Fine (Owsley Stanley Foundation) – recorded June 2 & 3, 1973