“Vinyl has been and always will be a major presence in the Hammond household.”
“Stemming from my childhood, the sounds of ’60s/’70s soul and rock were heard on a daily basis, thanks to Charles Hammond Sr. (my dad) whose musical favorites I naturally took on as my own. Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathway, Al Green, The Isley Brothers, Santana, Joe Cocker, Three Dog Night, The Stylistics, EWF (Earth, Wind, & Fire), and Tower of Power (just to name a few) maintained a regular presence on my dad’s BSR 2540W. It is to his credit that to this day I can’t do a live show without including at least a song or two from this era.
As his vinyl collection began to find its way into our basement storage crates, so did I. Despite the fact that I did not come from a typical musical family, it was absorbing the sounds heard on these records that served as my musical foundation.
Then came the flood. The summer of 2005 was a rather dark period, as about 70% of the family’s vinyl collection was wiped out by major flooding that swept through the southwestern suburbs of Illinois.
This major blow did not dampen my need to hear music on this format. As a matter of fact, it was after I tried to replace these classics with either their cassette or CD counterparts that I realized the irreplaceable satisfaction I received from the experience of listening to the same music on vinyl (aurally, reading the liner notes, etc.). I ended up purchasing my own turntable, and began the process of collecting on my own.
Although my collection is currently not as extensive as I would like it to be, it is very much a daily work in progress. I recently released my debut EP, Hello, My Name Is…, for digital download, but you can best believe that it will find it’s way onto vinyl very soon…”
—Charles Hammond Jr.
