Dov Hammer - Bluesoul (2019)

“Dov Hammer’s singing is heartfelt and moving. Impossible not be drawn to his voice. His harmonica playing fits the music like a glove. This is not a player who relies on repeating previously recorded licks by other harp masters. He works on his craft, on his tone, and on his unique phrasings. He has his own signature sound.” – Pierre LaCocque , "Mississippi heat"

Welcome to the Blue Soul of Dov Hammer - and get ready for some some hipshakin’, heartbreakin’, earthquakin’ Blues!
For almost 30 years Dov Hammer has plied his trade as singer, songwriter and harmonica player in various bands such as The Blues Rebels, CG & The Hammer and the Daily Blues, as well as backing top notch artists such as Joe Louis Walker, Lucky Peterson, Bernard Allison and many others.
Now comes “BlueSoul”, Dov Hammer’s new album, the first recorded under his own name since 2004’s “Going deep”. While that album was strictly stripped -down, raw acoustic Blues, “BlueSoul” is a bubbling pot of Blues gumbo - a variety of styles ranging from Chicago to New Orleans, from traditional to modern and all points in between, all anchored by Hammer’s soulful vocals, soaring harmonica and unique songwriting. The songs deal with love and loss, going through challenges and changes and enduring trials and tribulations with grit and determination and some hard earned humor...
The album kicks off with classic Chicago -style Blues shuffle in “Make it count”, then immediately heads south for some New orleans “second line” party music in “I’m gone”
Some heavy blues-rock is at play on “Find a way” and “Magic” (featuring the fantastic lap-steel slide of Ori Beanstock), while Hammer features his chromatic harmonica on the tongue-in-cheek, jump-Blues of “Bad luck charm”
“The fighting Blues” is a stark, Skip James -style Delta Blues, while “Tear it down” rocks and rolls like a freight train rumbling through the Mississippi night…then a brief stylistic detour into country-rock as Hammer and special guest Assaf Rozov pay homage to their late friend and mentor “King” Earnest Baker on “King”.
“Dance the Blues” is another Chicago Blues, paying tribute to the slow grinding pleasure of the Blues dancers.
“Taking my time” is a raunchy, semi-electronic Bluesy love song, then the album signs off with the autobiographical title track, a melding of Blues and hip-hop featuring Dov Hammer’s daughter Naomi Jo Hammer on the soul chorus.