So Many Roads

by John Hammond, Jr.

Overview

So Many Roads is Hammond's most notable mid-'60s Vanguard album, due not so much to Hammond's own singing and playing (though he's up to the task) as the yet-to-be-famous backing musicians. Three future members of the Band -- Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, and Levon Helm -- are among the supporting cast, along with Charlie Musselwhite on harmonica, and Mike Bloomfield also contributes. It's one of the first fully realized blues-rock albums, although it's not in the same league as the best efforts of the era by the likes of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band or John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. In part that's because the repertoire is so heavy on familiar Chicago blues classics by the likes of Willie Dixon, Bo Diddley, and Muddy Waters; in part that's because the interpretations are so reverent and close to the originals in arrangement; and in part it's also because Hammond's blues vocals were only okay. Revisionist critics thus tend to downgrade the record a notch. But in the context of its time -- when songs like "Down in the Bottom," "Long Distance Call," "Big Boss Man," and "You Can't Judge a Book By the Cover" were not as well known as they would become -- it was a punchy, well-done set of electric blues with a rock touch. ~ Richie Unterberger

Product Details

Release Date:	10/30/1995
Label:	Vanguard Music Presents
UPC:	0029667012720
Rank:	53301

Album Credits

Performance Credits

John Hammond, Jr.   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals,Harmonica
Jimmy Lewis   Bass,Drums
Garth Hudson   Organ,Organ (Hammond),Vocals (Background)
Charlie Musselwhite   Harmonica,Vocals (Background)
Robbie Robertson   Guitar,Vocals (Background)
Eric Hudson   Organ
Wild Jimmy Spruill   Guitar
Levon Helm   Drums,Vocals (Background)
Michael Bloomfield   Piano,Guitar,Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Barry Kittleson   Liner Notes
Billy Rush   Composer
Ellas McDaniel   Composer
John Mooney   Composer
John Lyon   Composer
Muddy Waters   Composer
Al Smith   Composer
Luther Dixon   Composer
Robert Johnson   Composer
Marshall Paul   Composer
Willie Dixon   Composer
Melvin "Lil' Son" Jackson   Composer
John Hammond, Jr.   Composer
Barry Feinstein   Photography
Jules Halfant   Design
Bo Diddley   Composer
Big Joe Williams   Composer