Owsley Stanley Foundation Release New Live Album, Featuring the Music of Blues Icon John Hammond

The latest renderings from Bear’s Sonic Journal have arrived. Dubbed You’re Doin’ Fine by John Hammond, the 3-CD set leans into a so-called “classic document of American music,” live performances captured over two nights on June 2 and 3, 1973, at San Francisco’s Boarding House. The set is available now and can be accessed here.

The release fuses Owsley “Bear” Stanley’s recordist vision with Hammond’s prowess to take the listener back in time and experience the force of those Frisco evenings via 45 resulting tracks. Hammond’s career is tied to his father’s discovery of music’s most extraordinary talents, such as Count Basie, Billie Holliday, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, spending his formative years exposed and mingling with the greats. 

Through his display of electric blues, Hammond uses his live show to trek through storied genre locations, sonically stepping from the Delta to Piedmont, Chicago, and the Lone Star State while offering standout covers: Robert Johnson’s “Sweet Home Chicago” and “Terraplane Blues,” Muddy Waters’ “Can’t Be Satisfied,” and John Lee Hooker’s “Boogie Chillen.”

A noteworthy mention considering his roots with the Grateful Dead, the latest Hammond release captures Bear’s ability to produce high-fidelity listening experiences for fans and followers of his recordings. In addition to music, the set arrives with a 60-page booklet. It includes new interviews with the subject, a new tribute from Tom Waits, memories via Jorma Kaukonen, and Richard Biffle’s original artwork. 

“He was grumbling, reverent and revenant, with so much duende and animal syntax…And then he closed his eyes and made you start to cry…and we were not really understanding why, were we watching something being born or something dying?” Waits ponders. 

Order Bear’s Sonic Journals: You’re Doin’ Fine now. 

Track listing for Bear’s Sonic Journals: You’re Doin’ Fine — Blues at the Boarding House, June 2 & 3, 1973, featuring John Hammond:

Disc 1: June 2

1. Wang Dang Doodle
2. Gambling Blues
3. I Can’t Be Satisfied
4. Hitchhiking Woman
5. Shake For Me
6. Honeymoon Blues
7. Rag Mama
8. Sweet Home Chicago
9. I Wish You Would
10. King Bee
11. Help Me
12. Death Bells
13. Honeymoon Blues

Disc 2: June 2 & 3

1. You’re So Fine
2. Look On Yonder’s Wall
3. Traveling Riverside Blues
4. Little Rain
5. Truckin’ Little Baby
6. It’s Too Late, She’s Gone
7. You Don’t Love Me
8. Ridin’ In The Moonlight
9. Malted Milk
10. I Can’t Be Satisfied
11. It Hurts Me Too
12. Boogie Chillen’
13. She Moves Me
14. Rag Mama
15. Ask Me Nice
16. Love Changing Blues
17. Preachin’ Blues

Disc 3: June 3

1. Go On To School
2. Ride ‘Til I Die
3. Drunken Hearted Man
4. Look On Yonder’s Wall
5. Terraplane Blues
6. No Money Down
7. Truckin’ Little Baby
8. Ground Hog Blues
9. Junco Partner
10. I’m Leaving You
11. From Four Until Late
12. Traveling Riverside Blues
13. Hitchhiking Woman
14. Shake For Me
15. It’s Too Late, She’s Gone