A legitimate treasure of American roots music, John Hammond has made other people's songs his own during his decades-long career. Born in 1942, Hammond, the son of the legendary Columbia Records A&R man who discovered Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, was raised mostly by his mother. A lifelong New Yorker (he now calls Jersey City home), John didn’t buy his first guitar until he turned 18. But that was it — he’d found his calling. Almost immediately, he was on the Greenwich Village club scene, and by 1963, he was accomplished enough to share a Newport Folk Festival bill with the likes of Mississippi John Hurt and the Reverend Gary Davis.

Hammond’s first five records for Vanguard are still in print, and over the years he’s played, recorded, or crossed paths with John Lee Hooker, Dr. John, Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman, Michael Bloomfield, Bill Wyman, Pops Staples, and The Band. He remains best-known as an acoustic artist: America’s modern country bluesman.

Then, two dozen albums later, came Wicked Grin, Hammond’s 2001 brilliant reimagining of Tom Waits’ songs. An international success story, the album exposed Hammond’s musicianship to a whole new audience. 2003’s Ready For Love, produced by Los Lobos stalwart David Hidalgo, saw Hammond spread his well-traveled interpreter’s wings even further, putting his stamp on songs by George Jones, Jagger/Richards, as well as two more songs by Waits.

On his latest venture, In Your Arms Again, Hammond once again takes up the pen with the album’s title track and “Come To Find Out.” “Writing Slick Crown Vic, I didn’t feel like I had to prove anything, but I got this new sense of freedom,” he mentions.

“I’m very happy about the songs we selected for In Your Arms Again — real, good blues like ‘Jitterbug Swing,’ ‘Serve Me Right To Suffer’ and ‘My Baby’s Gone,’ written by Percy Mayfield, as well as Bob Dylan’s tune, ‘I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight.’” In addition to Hammond’s In Your Arms Again and Come To Find Out, darkly-tinged covers of I Got A Woman and Fool For You by the great Ray Charles are also included on the gritty collection. “I first heard Ray in 1956 on records. He was a great blues singer and his early recordings were — and remain — a big influence on me.” The itinerant storyteller’s ability to interpret such classics, flavored by four decades of playing the blues, gives the feeling he’s just getting started.

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