The man who signed Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen to Columbia Records was also father to a son who made quite a name for himself as a contemporary blues man. John Hammond Jr. refused to be intimidated by his heritage, much less stereotypes of any kind, and so recorded with the likes of the late Duane Allman as well as members of The Band. On a string of albums for Vanguard Records that subsequently gave way to later releases through the Capricorn label and the Virgin/Point Blank imprimatur, the man’s heated live performances (such as that captured in the accompanying clip) solidified his legitimacy in the genre and established a body of work that proffered an authoritative response–if not an outright answer–to the musical question ‘Can a white man sing the blues?’
