Vintage Review: John Hammond – Telford’s Warehouse, Chester – Feb 1999

JOHN HAMMOND
Telford’s Warehouse, Chester

One of the worlds finest practitioners of the acoustic delta blues, John Hammond, started his current UK tour at Telford’s Warehouse, before a captivated audience.

Drawing on some 37 years of touring and recording, John Hammond is a true master of the pre-war country blues of artists such as Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Boy Fuller, and more recent Chicago artists, including Billy Boy Arnold.

Switching all night from acoustic guitar for fingerpicking to National steel for his fiery slide playing, the hushed, respectful crowd were treated to several Robert Johnson songs – a laid back “Come On In My Kitchen”, a fierce “Preachin’ Blues” – with another highlight being Blind Willie McTell’s “Love Changin’ Blues”.

Second set highlights included a fine version of Elmore James’s “It Hurts Me Too”, with the evening rounded off with a well deserved encore in the shape of “I Found True Love”.

GRAHAME RHODES

(Gig and review from February, 1999 – first appeared in The Chester Chronicle)