About Lorraine and Bennett Hammond
Lorraine Hammond was born and raised in the mountains of Northwestern Connecticut when traditional music was still a normal part of community life. With a degree in Music and Education from Goddard College, she is well known as a folk singer and songwriter, an accomplished player and teacher of the Celtic harp and the 5-string banjo, and as perhaps the foremost exponent of the Appalachian dulcimer. Lorraine teaches locally at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education where she also produces an annual spring dulcimer festival. She is a regularly featured teacher and performer at venues around the country including The John C Campbell Folk School, and The Mountain Collegium of Early Music, both in North Carolina, Puget Sound Guitar Workshop in the state of Washington, Augusta Heritage Program in West Virginia, and Summer Acoustic Music Week in New Hampshire.
Bennett Hammond began to play traditional and original music on the guitar in high school in Vermont, and began teaching it while in college in New Hampshire. With a degree in Classical Greek, Bennett also speaks French and Spanish. "Hammond has a deft melodic sense, and a knack for transmuting traditional Irish and Appalachian motifs into thoroughly contemporary results. Hammond's great talent is that he doesn't let his skill overpower his taste and artistry." Boston Globe Since 1986 Bennett has performed, recorded and toured extensively at home and abroad with Lorraine. The couple live in an old house in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Some Recent Appearances:
Somerville Theatre, Somerville, MA
National Heritage Museum, Lexington, MA
New Bedford Summerfest, New Bedford, MA
Old Time Music and Dulcimer Festival, Palestine, TX
John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC
Mountain Collegium of Early Music, Western Carolina Univ., Cullowee, N.C
Augusta Heritage Center, Elkins, WV
Cook Forest Dulcimer and Old Time Music Festival, Clarion, PA
Branford Folk Song Society, Branford, CTSummer Acoustic Music, Center Harbor, NH
Housatonic Dulcimer Celebration, New Milford, CT
Rose Garden Coffeehouse, Franklin, MA
Springstep Center for the Arts, Medford, MA
Spring Dulcimer Festival, Cambridge, MA
Banjo Camp North, Groton, MA
Old Time Music Camp North, Groton, MA
Quotes About Lorraine & Bennett
“... the Hammonds are folk missionaries of the first order, devoted cultural activists, teachers, event organizers and performers who love to introduce people to the joys of traditional music.” Boston Globe
“Lorraine is a very expressive, passionate player, and you'll hear the dulcimer soaring, swooping, and diving through the varied textures of the music.”
—Jerry Rockwell, Dirty Linen Magazine
“Lorraine is ...among the country's leading dulcimer stylists and a fine harper.” Scott Alarik, Boston Globe
“The finest of all Appalachian dulcimer players.”
MUSIKBLATT (German folk music magazine)
“Lorraine, one of the most respected dulcimer players in the country, plays the ancient instrument in a way that those who have a grudge against it insist it cannot be played.”
Boston Globe
There's more. For several decades Lorraine's playing has transcended the apparent limitations of the Appalachian dulcimer. In the seventies a Harvard Crimson reviewer called her “The Jimmy Hendrix of the Appalachian dulcimer.”
She was the 1993 honoree of the Memphis Dulcimer Festival and took third place in old-time banjo in the 1994 Lowell, MA, Fiddle and Banjo Contest.
Priscilla Herdman's cover of Lorraine's song Rocking in a Weary Land receives wide national radio airplay, as do Lorraine's own recordings. Dirty Linen Folk Magazine calls the song “a secular spiritual that is already passing into New England's folk tradition as it is covered by other singers.”
For more booking or performing information on Lorraine, please contact her at: Lorraine Lee Hammond (dulcimers@comcast.net)
Last modified: Oct. 4, 2005