Lawrence Hammond - Presumed Lost (2012)

After Berkeley psych legends Mad River greeted the world with scorching tear-ups such as Amphetamine Gazelle in 1968, singer Lawrence Hammond’s reignited his love affair with country music. The yearning title track to the group’s 1969’s Paradise Bar And Grill LP pointed towards the path Hammond would traverse when the group split shortly after its release.

After tasting unexpected success when his song John Deere Tractor hit big for The Judds, Hammond formed The Whiplash Band in the early 70s, releasing Coyote’s Dream on Takoma in 1976. The album sank and Hammond started training to become a doctor, leaving the follow-up they’d struggled to complete in the vaults for decades.

Hammond still pursues his medical work for the under-privileged, but sterling efforts by Shagrat’s Nigel Cross has resulted in a beguiling follow-up to the 2011 release of Mad River’s Jersey Sloo. Sublimely framed by stellar musicians including fiddler Byron Berline, guitarist James Parber and pedal steel maestro Bill Weingarden, Hammond’s disarmingly pure but impassioned voice elevates poignant cowboy ballads such as Pale Moon On The Pecos, Papa Redwing Blackbird and epic West Texas Border Patrol. His own take on John Deere Tractor and a humourous Jesus-freak outing The Heavenly Saga Of Flight 64 add balance. With Shagrat’s usual exhaustive annotation, this little beauty becomes both a fascinating archaeological artefact and timeless classic from a lost world.