A Different Shade of Blues

John Hammond is just like every other blues musician. He’s happily married, white, and like all blues stars, he’s from New York City. Okay, so he’s nothing like the rest, but Hammond delivers a finger-pickin’ and thumb-slidin’ set that will take the word “stereotypical” out of your vocabulary forever. For 30 long years he’s been crawling out of that same old blues pigeonhole using his picks and harmonicas. Along the way he’s jammed with Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters, and John Lee Hooker. And his most recent album, In Your Arms Again, was just nominated for the Blues Music Awards’ best acoustic album of the year. For him, there’s nowhere to go but down – which makes for better blues.
Sat., Jan. 7, 8:30 p.m.