Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
In Memoriam: John Hammond Jr., 1942–2026
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
Telarc has signed blues vocalist Shemekia Copeland, whose debut album with the company, Never Going Back, will be released Feb. 24, 2009.
Born in Harlem in 1979, Copeland began singing as a child, and eventually sang onstage with her father, Texas blues guitarist Johnny Copeland. She launched her recording career in 1997 at age 18, and has since scored a Grammy nomination and five W.C. Handy Awards.
“I’m so excited to be working with Telarc,” Copeland said. “I’ve had success in my career, and I’m happy with that, but I want to continue to grow. I’m extremely proud to say I’m a blues singer, but that doesn’t mean that’s the only thing I’m capable of singing, or that’s the only style of music I’m capable of making. This partnership with Telarc is my opportunity to do something new and different.”
More info: telarc.com
Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
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Blindfold Test proctor Ted Panken, left, with the Grammy-winning Nicole Zuraitis.
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“These days, with curated news, where people only get half the story, people can’t even speak to family members anymore,” Schneider laments.
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Maria Schneider is doing her part to try to fix what ails America. Which got her thinking about crows, specifically,…
