Artist Spotlight
The Curse of KK Hammond Filters American Blues Through a British Lens for Delicious Horror-laced Album
The Curse of KK Hammond’s “Death Roll Blues” album is a hauntingly beautiful tribute to the early 20th century era of Acoustic Blues. This debut full-length album by the UK artist K.K. Hammond is a statement of purpose for the growing movement of modern masters of this style. With a blend of Bentonia styled Blues and Southern Gothic horror, Hammond creates a unique sound that is both captivating and chilling.
The simplicity of the album is deceptive, as multiple listens reveal layers of complexity in the lacey interlocked guitar parts and Hammond’s bracingly clarion voice. Her use of Southern Gothic imagery as tools for self-expression is a powerful and clever way to express complex emotions. Through her lyrics, she is able to make the political personal, touching on modern headlines and the state of the world.
Songs such as “Anhedonia” and the title track, featuring fellow British Acoustic Blues artist David & the Devil, showcase Hammond’s ability to bring together different elements and create a truly unique sound. The title track opens with a modern descending guitar figure, giving way to a call and response chant that is equal parts eerie and catchy. The haunting chorus, with its fragile and quivering vocals, adds to the overall chilling atmosphere of the song.
What sets this album apart is Hammond’s British perspective, which she filters through American culture to create something fresh and reverent. Recorded at the iconic Abbey Road Studios, Death Roll Blues is a testament to the talent and creativity of K.K. Hammond. This is only the beginning of what promises to be a great career for this rising artist. The Curse of K.K. Hammond is upon us, and we can’t wait to hear more.
Artist Spotlight
“Subterranean Homesick Blues” finds a new direction through Ghost of Panama
Rearranging a song that carries six decades of cultural weight is a creative challenge, but Ghost of Panama approaches “Subterranean Homesick Blues” with clear purpose. The rock band radically reworks Bob Dylan’s counter-culture hit, reshaping its identity while keeping its rebellious spirit. It’s a tribute to musical heritage and a statement of artistic independence all in one.
This new interpretation is very much shaped by the production, made at Ghost of Panama’s home studio in West London. The setting allows an intimate approach to reinterpreting a familiar song and lets the group engage directly with the material, taking it in a new artistic direction.
“Subterranean Homesick Blues” centers on the tension between conservation and transformation. Ghost of Panama is true to the song’s rebellious spirit without adding to its legacy, and this approach gives the release an adventurous feel, grounded in countercultural energy but driven by a desire to see what the composition can become in a different musical context.
Their version of this 60-year-old classic shows that respecting a song’s history can also mean breaking the rules and finding new ways to express its spirit. Fundamentally, “Subterranean Homesick Blues” presents Ghost of Panama as artists who want to engage with the past without being tied to it. The release’s strongest identity is a familiar heritage reimagined through a singularly forward-looking creative vision.
Artist Spotlight
“NO MORE” by Amanda Holley connects healing, awakening, and survival
“NO MORE“ carries that kind of emotional weight, and some songs feel like they come from lived experience but reach for something bigger. Amanda Holley blends R&B and soul, turning a lifetime of survival into a vision of healing, awakening, and the determination to move beyond what caused the pain.
“NO MORE“ is a healing anthem for people who have gone through bad experiences and reached a place of higher awareness, but it’s also an emotionally charged protest. The duality is introspective and outward-looking at the same time, turning personal survival into a broader declaration that some experiences, conditions, or cycles should end.
Holley had a premonition of the song six months before the world went into global shutdown. In the vocal booth, working out melodies with her collaborators, she pictured people in the streets. Those images were hard to imagine at the time, but subsequent events would make them painfully familiar.
“NO MORE“ is given a particularly contemplative underpinning by the context. The identity of R&B and soul leaves room for emotion. The song’s themes link survival, awakening, resistance, and the need for change. Amanda Holley is an artist using music to process personal endurance and a broader sense of social awakening. It’s got a complicated significance, and its release feels like a glimpse of a moment when personal intuition and public reality collided in an unexpected way.
Photo Credit: Yulia Shusharina
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