Americana Music Magazine – Bluegrass, Roots, Folk, Blues, and Old-Time
K.K. Hammond is a singer-songwriter and slide guitarist who channels the dark and gritty vibe of the swamp and old Appalachia into her personal take on the blues, which has been sometimes labeled “horror blues.’ “I’ve always loved the blues…I’ve always loved horror films and murder ballads, the darker folk music,” the artist explains. “The old blues has a lot of mystique and folklore and legend surrounding it…”
She took an interest in guitar, blues music and Americana from an early age, and spent several years exploring the back country of the U.S. Eventually, she settled back into the Buckinghamshire countryside in the U.K. where she works with horses. A self-professed hermit living in an isolated spot in the woods, K.K. enjoys exploring the wilderness surrounding her home to seek inspiration for her song writing. Originally from London, K.K. has always found herself drawn to the more isolated country life.
As often happens for developing musicians, she took a pathway away from this starting point. “When I was a teenager, I started playing with metal bands…With the passage of time I started getting into a more sedate pace of music, and that saw me slide more into folk and bluegrass.
She picked up a slide guitar about six years ago. “I can see myself never playing standard tuning again,” K.K. admits. “It’s something that resonates with me—excuse the pun…it’s a style that you can play with a lot of feel; you can blank your mind, forget about what you’re doing and just play that guitar, totally from the soul…”
K.K. Hammond’s debut album, Death Role Blues, is due out in March of 2023. It’s a concept album taking an in-depth, soulful look at death. Despite that fact, the artist delivers some of the songs in a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek manner, with an expansive pallet of emotional expression that is sure to capture the ears and imagination of every type of blues fan.
By Dan Walsh