Search For Robert Johnson Part 1 (of 5)

The Search for Robert Johnson is a 1991 UK television documentary film about the legendary Delta blues musician Robert Johnson, hosted by John Hammond, and produced and directed by Chris Hunt. In it, Hammond travels through the American Deep South to pursue topics such as Johnson's birth date, place and parents, his early musical development, performances and travels, romances, his mythic "pact with the devil," his untimely murder in his late twenties, the discovery of possible offspring, and the uncertainty over where Johnson is buried. Throughout, Johnson's music is both foreground and background, from recordings of Johnson and as performed on camera by Hammond, David Honeyboy Edwards, and Johnny Shines.
Blues musician and "keeper of the flame" John Hammond described his journey into the American South as "the quest of a lifetime". His father, record producer and jazz impresario John H. Hammond, had planned and advertised for Robert Johnson to perform at Carnegie Hall, but Johnson died prior to the concert.

The film is loosely organized around field work by Johnson researcher Robert "Mack" McCormick. Throughout the film, Hammond travels to locations where Johnson lived, performed, recorded, and purportedly where he died, and interviews two of Johnson's girlfriends and blues musicians who knew him, as well as two noted blues researchers. Locations include the "Delta, the floodplain of northwestern Mississippi, on into Arkansas and Texas, and into southern Mississippi, where he was born and died."

The film has been noted for its presentation of new evidence, at the time, about Johnson's life.
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Jitterbug Swing - John Hammond

John Paul Hammond (born November 13, 1942 in New York City is an American blues singer and guitarist. The son of record producer John H. Hammond, he is sometimes referred to as "John Hammond, Jr.".

Hammond usually plays acoustically, choosing National Reso-Phonic Guitars and sings in a barrelhouse style. Since 1962, when he made his debut on Vanguard Records, Hammond has made thirty four albums. In the 1990s he began recording on the Point Blank Records label. Hammond has earned one Grammy Award and been nominated for four others. He also provided the soundtrack for the 1970 film, Little Big Man, starring Dustin Hoffman.



Although critically acclaimed, Hammond has received only moderate commercial success. Nonetheless, he enjoys a strong fan base and has earned respect from the likes of John Lee Hooker, Roosevelt Sykes, Duane Allman, Robbie Robertson and Charlie Musselwhite, all of whom have contributed their musical talents to Hammond's records. In addition, he is the only person who ever 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 New York City. To his regret, they never recorded together. It has been suggested by at least one author that Hammond deserves some credit for helping boost The Band to wider recognition. He recorded with several of the members of The Band in 1965, and recommended them to Bob Dylan, with whom they undertook a famed and tumultuous world tour.



In the early part of the 1990s, Hammond hosted the 1991 UK television documentary The Search for Robert Johnson, detailing the life of the legendary Delta bluesman, Robert Johnson.

Hammond at Hugh's Room in Toronto



Hammond has had a longstanding friendship with the songwriter Tom Waits, and has performed Waits' songs on occasion. In 2001, he released Wicked Grin, an album entirely of Tom Waits compositions with one exception, the traditional spiritual, "I know I've Been Changed." Waits himself provided guitar work and backing vocals as well as producing the project.

Kind Hearted Woman

If there was ever a white man who understood the history or significance of the blues...this is the guy. He certainly didn't grow up in poverty...but listen to him.

John Paul Hammond (born November 13, 1942, New York City), is a blues singer and guitarist. He is the son of record producer John H. Hammond and is sometimes referred to as "John Hammond, Jr." He is a descendant of William Henry Vanderbilt of the famed super wealthy Vanderbilt family.

He is a son of the famed record producer and talent scout John Henry Hammond, Jr. and his first wife, Jemison McBride, an actress. He is a descendant of William Henry Vanderbilt. He has a brother, Jason, and by his father's second marriage to Esme O'Brien Sarnoff, he has a stepsister, (Esme) Rosita Sarnoff. Hammond's middle name, Paul, is in honor of a friend of his father, the actor Paul Robeson. However, the younger Hammond was raised by 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 a Jimmy Reed performance at the Apollo Theater. He attended Antioch College for one year, but dropped out to pursue a music career. By the mid-60s he was touring nationally and living in Greenwich Village. He befriended and recorded with many electric blues musicians in New York, including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, The Hawks (later known as The Band), Dr. John, and Duane Allman.