Found True Love

by Steve HoffmanFound True Love offers the usual highly proficient replication of classic electric and acoustic blues one has come to expect from John Hammond. Although he can more than hold his own on both guitar and harp, he often prefers to collaborate with other bluesmen on recordings; here, he shares the spotlight even more than usual. Hammond blows harp on only five cuts and plays guitar on only four, leaving most of the fretwork to co-producer Duke Robillard (who brings along his regular rhythm section) and letting Charlie Musselwhite handle harp on a couple of tunes. Still, it is Hammond's alluring, leathery vocals that distinguish the recording. Hammond is an interpreter, not an originator, and on Found True Love he covers two each by Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf, and one each by Jimmy Reed, Leroy Carr, Willie McTell, Baby Boy Warren, Lonnie Johnson, Little Brother Montgomery, Cousin Joe, and Sleepy John Estes.