Murry Hammond’s Solo CD Finally Gets National Release

By Pete Freedman Fri., Jul. 11 2008 at 1:11 PM

Categories: DFW Music News

You might recall a while back when I reviewed I Don’t Know Where I’m Going But I’m On My Way, Old 97’s bassist Murry Hammond’s fine solo debut. I, like a lot of other folks, went ga ga over the album’s potent mix of old school religion and psychedelic folk/pop.

Well, I’ve just been informed by Hammond’s publicist, Cary Baker, that the CD gets a national release on August 18.

“Yeah, the perils of soft release vs. national release,” says Baker, who realizes folks have been able to order the CD off amazon.com for a couple of months. Hammond self-released his debut in May, but like other endeavors done without a label, release dates can become irritatingly in flux. Yet whatever the date, the disc is, despite what Hammond will say publicly, better than Blame it on Gravity, the most recent effort from Old 97’s.

Sparse and haunting, I Don’t Know Where I’m Going But I’m On My Way simply confirms what Old 97’s fans have known for years: Hammond is just as good of a songwriter as bandmate Rhett Miller, just not as prolific. --Darryl Smyers