I have to admit that the collected works of Steve Hammond were not on my radar until I listened to his latest release HONKY TONK RECORD CLUB No 1. However within his varied output he has touched on the genre. There are the solo albums TIME WILL KILL US ALL and THE HOUSE OF DEATH as well as KEEP TRUCKIN’ by Leeches of Lore and all the albums by Black Ale Sinners. They can be found at his lorco.bandcamp.com label site. Lonesome Highway took the opportunity to ask Steve Hammond some questions about his work and times.
Looking at your Bandcamp page and the number of releases there you seem to be in this for life. How important is making music to you?
Music is the most important thing in my life after my family.
Tell us about the trials tribulations and also the good times of being involved in the music industry since you started?
Well, I don't consider myself part of the industry. There may have been a time when I was trying to "make it" at least on a small scale but the industry only cares about money and popularity which are not things I consider virtues. I don't consider art that doesn't make money as a failure. I think if an artist creates the art they set out to make then it is a success, even if no one sees it or hears it. That said I do appreciate when people like my music, but if no one did I'd still make it.
Traditionally influenced country is a part of your vocabulary. When did you become interested in writing and performing in that style?
I grew up on country. Songs by people like Hank Williams or Johnny Cash have been with me my whole life. I did rebel against country as a teenager but rediscovered first bluegrass then singers like George Jones and Dwight Yoakam in my early 20's. My first country band started as a sort of punk bluegrass thing then evolved into honky tonk.
Another aspect of what you do is “original space age country.” How does that expand on the more traditional version?
I'm really into music from the honky tonk era, roughly the late 40's to the mid 60's, and that era definitely inspires my music, but the experimentalist in me always wants to do something new with it or fuck it up somehow or make it weird.
The songs on the album cover many of the themes and mores relates to the form. Where do you draw inspiration from?
They are mostly just classic honky tonk themes: heartache, cheating, drinking, death, trucking, religion, etc.. But maybe I'll write a cheating song that isn't gender specific, or a trucking song from the point of view of someone who's fed up with big rigs on the road or a song about the fallacy of religion.
You have released a series of singles from this album in the past are they statements or promotional tools?
They were kind of very limited edition singles, only 20 or 30 of each. They were 7" records hand cut on a 1940's lathe so they were scratchy, lo-fi and mono. Perfect!
When you are able to perform live do you have a regular set of players or do you need to find and rehearse new ones each time?
At the moment here in Troy, NY I have my band The A.M.'s. We play not only my songs but the other members' songs too. We have only been playing less than a year so these songs from the new record were already recorded before I started this band. Before that I was in various bands around the country and then also spent a fair amount of time doing solo gigs.
What sort of venues do you normally play when you get out on tour?
I love a good dive bar or honky tonk of course. I think that is the natural habitat for this kind of music. I also tend to play a lot of breweries.
How about overseas gigs?
I have toured Europe and played in Mexico and Canada but that was all with rock or punk bands generally. Would love to get back over to Europe with my honky tonk band!
Many have used the pandemic to their advantage to write and record rather than play. How did it affect you?
In 2020 I released a new song every week (the "small songs" album). Of course I didn't know the pandemic was going to happen and I think the music got darker and was influenced by it. It did leave me a lot of creative time! Then in 2021 my wife and I had a baby so a lot of stuff has been put on hold and my creativity has been focused elsewhere but I have been writing a lot more music lately.
Taking the new album as a statement of intent. What do you feel is good and bad about country music in the mainstream, or in the alternative area, these days?
To be honest I don't listen to a lot of modern country. Every time I hear modern country I'm always asking "Is this country? It's so hard to tell …” I consider myself a honky tonk artist rather than a country artist mainly because that is the style of music I'm into. I don't want to confuse anyone wanting to hear Florida Georgia Line or whoever. If you like Buck Owens or early 60's Ray Price or the Byrds during their psych-country era you might like me.
What do you think your new release will give you in terms of direction?
I just hope folks who listen to it or buy it like it and I hope to break even so I can release the next one!
You have three steel players on this album and it seems an instrument that is vital to your current sound. Has it always been that way?
I also play it on there so that's four! Steel guitar is probably my favourite instrument and if it doesn't have a steel guitar it probably isn't honky tonk.
As an independent artist how difficult is it to survive these days. Has the internet been good for you?
I love/hate the internet. It is easy to release music these days but much harder for anyone to pay attention. I have such a niche and small following that I'm not sure that it matters, but there probably have been a few folks that found me because of the internet so for that I am thankful!
How does your music relate, for you, to what is happening around you?
Even if it's not conscious, the world around me surely finds its way into my music.
Interview by Stephen Rapid.