Hambone

...."Kimbrough March" (Tribute to a Junior Kimbrough Song) Harmonica by Alex PugaHambone is a 23 year old blues musician currently living in Louisville,Ky. He has been trying to "cut his teeth" for the last three years playng shows in and out of Kentucky and Indiana. Just this past year he was interviewed on WFIU's "Just You and Me" as well as surprisingly played the 2006 and 2007 Bean Blossom Blues Fest. He was also spolighted in the 2006 documentary "Radio Friendly Songs By American Pirates."Although his accolades are not long, he plans to pursue this avenue with great ferocity to build his following, while contributing original blues based material, and remaining a staple of the blues community. Hambone is known for playing beyond his years, and a striking playing style that can only be described as his own."Lightning In My Hands" is his first album, and contains all original material. The performances are mainly solo acoustic and slide guitar, but he has a little help from his friends. The album is a great first push and contains a diverse palette of blues roots. The album with be in stores, and online in April. Here is a review below. ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------- Real blues, deep one. author: Przemek Draheim, Polish Blues Radio Host, www.blues.pl/draheim Being a radio DJ I deal with a lot of contemporary blues but when I have some free time I usually go back to my favorite blues albums of the past. Muddy Waters’ “Folk Singer” LP is one of them, for me one of the best blues albums ever recorded. Nick “Hambone” Hamstra’s debut CD reminds me of that Muddy’s long play, especially on tracks where he is backed up by rhythm section and harmonica. The sonic landscape those guys create is unbelievable, pretty simple but at the same time so beautiful. Their music is lazy and by rolling slowly it makes the listener wish it never ended. Nick is blessed with a voice many people would die for. His singing is intense but without being forced, emotional but without falling into silly clichés. The same is with his guitar playing – I can hear his deep love and understanding of the blues in every note he plays, it’s not something you can learn from books of music. Some people would call Hambone’s blues authentic, but not me. I don’t like that word as it is often used by white people to describe blues played by white people and for white people. Guys like Fred McDowell or RL Burnside weren’t authentic, they were real. And this is the word that goes with Hamstra’s music, real. If you love the blues, the deep one, you can’t go wrong with Hambone and his “Lightning In My Hands”.