Lorraine and Bennett Hammond | Acoustic Music At Its Finest

WUMB Summer Acoustic Music Week

July 14 – 20, 2024
Center Harbor, NH https://samw.wumb.org/camps/ Sold out with waiting list

Lorraine and Bennett Performing at WAMW

December 6, 2023
Brookline, Massachusetts

Hello friends,

A few errant snowflakes are making their way down to the ground here in Brookline this chill, grey December morning. We love New England winter! We’ll be out in the winter woods teaching at WUMB/SAMW Winter Weekend Feb. 23 – 25, 2024. Check the listings for those details. Great music and musicians in a beautiful setting. Come find us in beautiful Rockport, MA, too, and celebrate New Year’s Eve, 2023 with us!

And yup, we did hop on Amtrak at the close of the summer right after teaching the August SAMW session at Geneva Point in Moultonboro, NH. Check out this quick travelog with some low-res. but high fun photos from our Amazing Amtrak Adventure, if you would like.

And now, as we move toward the longest night of the year, we wish you all good things,

Lorraine and Bennett Hammond

Bennett and Lorraine’s Amazing Amtrak Adventure

We traveled round trip from Boston to San Francisco (Emeryville, CA). Yowza! Sleeper cars are snug, but we loved seeing the country. In California we played for friends and had a great time at their wedding in Sonoma (well we missed the first day of wedding fun since the train was four hours late arriving at Emeryville, but we made up for it when we finally arrived!). Here is the link to a little video that our new friend Oscar and his father Paul made of the westbound California Zephyr that was part of our shared journey:

Here we are with Oscar, a very fine human being, and a fine singer too!

Oscar Explains Trains:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUz9CbkB49U

When the Zephyr came to a halt on the single track in the Colorado Rockies, with the Colorado River on one side and sheer cliff on the other, the conductor said the delay might be for many, many hours as we waited for a damaged freight train to be removed from the tracks ahead. Then he asked if anyone on board had a guitar! Bennett’s Facebook posts on his homepage make great reading about our trek.

Here we are with Oscar, a very fine human being, and a fine singer too!

Some Sonoma sunshine

Grandson Arthur and his folks

Lorraine in Berkeley

Bennett in Berkeley

#SongsofComfort Music helps, and we continue to find real comfort in playing together at home, and will continue to share that music with you. This set includes

“Bunch of Rushes”, traditional
My song honoring the late Rev. Walter Donald Kring: “Celadon Song”, © 1997, Lorraine Lee Hammond, Snowy Egret Music, BMI
The Turlough O’Carolan tune, “Planxty Fanny Poer”

Bunch of Rushes Set, Lorraine and Bennett Hammond #Songsofcomfort

Lorraine and Bennett play in perfect complement; they blend their instruments and create a beautiful new voice for songs and tunes that range in style from classical music through Celtic, blues and contemporary. They sing both traditional and original songs, reflecting a variety of influences from American and European traditions. Their interpretation of traditional music attests to their ability to hear fresh sounds in old songs.

Lorraine Hammond is an exceptional Appalachian dulcimer player, who after decades of concerts, workshops, teaching and recording can take much of the credit for the instrument’s current popularity. In addition, she plays folk harp, mandolin and five-string banjo.

Bennett Hammond is a superb finger-style guitarist who claims inspiration from the three B’s: Bach, Buddy Holly and Bo Diddley. He, along with Lorraine, produce some of the finest acoustic music around. Together, they are simply magical.