Blues Hall of Fame Tour comes to the Community Concert Hall
Blues legends Charlie Musselwhite and John Hammond
Durango, CO – Two living legends will take the stage at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College when The Blues Hall of Fame Tour featuring Charlie Musselwhite and John Hammond comes to Durango, Tuesday, Mar. 24, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
Grammy-winning harmonica virtuoso Musselwhite will perform with has band, with individual and collaborative performances from celebrated blues man Hammond.
Reportedly the inspiration for Dan Aykroyd’s character in The Blues Brothers, Musselwhite was one of the non-black bluesmen who came to prominence in the early ‘60s. He spent his formative years in Memphis, Tenn., during a time when rockabilly, western swing, electric blues and other forms of African American music were combining to give birth to rock & roll. This environment was Musselwhite’s school for music and where he acquired the nickname “Memphis Charlie.”
In true bluesman fashion, Musselwhite then took off to Chicago, where he continued his musical education, living in the basement of Big Joe Williams and forging a lifelong friendship with John Lee Hooker. In time, Musselwhite led his own blues band and in 1966 released the legendary Stand Back! Here Comes Charley Musselwhite’s Southside Band. Musselwhite has since released more than 25 albums. He recently teamed up with Ben Harper on Get Up! – the collaboration that took home the Grammy for Best Blues Album in 2014.
Musselwhite has been inducted into the Blues Music Hall of Fame and has received 35 Blues Music Awards. As Time Out New York writes,”Legendary is an overused term, but it’s also the only word that suits this heavyweight blues harpist.”
View a sampling of Charlie Musselwhite’s talent at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tenX8PiDo-s.
John Hammond is generally regarded as one of the world’s most important acoustic blues musicians. He was influenced by the blues greats from an early age, listening to Leadbelly, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and Josh White, but he also enjoyed rock artists such as Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. They were on Chess Records and on the back of the records it noted to look for other Chess artists like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, so Hammond began to discover the Chicago Blues scene. He got his first guitar at the age of 18, and started playing professionally at 19.
Inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2011, Hammond has won the Blues Music Award for Acoustic Artist of the Year a record six times and is nominated again in 2015, plus he has received a nomination for 2015 Acoustic Album of the Year for his latest album, Timeless (2014).
Timeless adds to an already extensive career, as Hammond has released 35 solo albums since 1964’s Big City Blues. Timeless, following on the heels of 2010’s Grammy-nominated CD Rough and Tough, was recorded live at Chan’s in Woonsocket, R.I. (one of Hammond’s favorite venues). It honors a host of legendary and hugely influential blues artists including Chuck Berry, Elmore James, Howlin’ Wolf and Bobby “Blue” Bland, as well as the living legend and longtime collaborator and friend of Hammond’s, Tom Waits.
Noted Waits, “John’s sound is so compelling, complete, symmetrical and soulful with just his voice, guitar and harmonica, it is at first impossible to imagine improving it… He’s a great force of nature. John sounds like a big train coming. He chops them all down.”
John Hammond videos are available at http://www.johnhammond.com/video.html.
Tickets for The Blues Hall of Fame Tour featuring Charlie Musselwhite and John Hammond ($39/$49) are available on-line atwww.durangoconcerts.com, or call 970.247.7657, or visit the Ticket Office inside the Durango Welcome Center at 8th St. and Main Ave., Downtown Durango. Ticket Office hours are Monday – Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and Saturdays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
The Community Concert Hall is a not-for-profit, multi-use performance venue located on the campus of Fort Lewis College. Its ability to bring a diverse spectrum of shows to Southwest Colorado is made possible through a partnership with the college, a state-supported, independent institution of higher education, and through financial and in-kind contributions from generous members of the community.
