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I Don't Know Where I'm Going

But I'm On My Way

News | Reviews | Links

News

Welcome to HBAT's I Don't Know Where I'm Going But I'm On My Way page. IDKWIGBIOMW is the third solo CD from the Old 97's Murry Hammond, following 1988's The Waterling Wheel, and It's a Twelve String World from 1991. The Waterling Wheel is notable for containing "Summer '84," a transcendentally lovely tune sometimes covered by Rhett Miller (and, according to one source, quoted in his high-school yearbook) while Twelve String contains early versions of later 97's staples "Can't Get a Line" and "Smokers."

Though over fifteen years have passed since Murry's last solo album, I Don't Know Where shares at least one thing in common with it's predecessors: It is an intensely personal work. One might be forgiven for not believing the singer of "Mama Tried" really turned twenty-one in prison, but one doesn't doubt for a second that the writer of "Other, Younger, Days," who's lost both parents in recent years, didn't mean this:

For those who drink what angels pour
Not one are lost, but gone before.
To leave us orphans?
Not at all, but make us mothers, fathers, all.

This is a grown-up's record. And as grown-ups will - or should anyway - some proceeds from IDKWIGBIOMW will be going to charity, specifically projectmercy.net. Explains Murry:

ProjectMercy.net, which is one of our church missions and the beneficiary of a part of the income from my record. I'm working on an all-gospel CD in my spare time at the moment (same sound and feel - a Side B if you will) that will be 100% beneficiary to these missions, but especially Project Mercy.

Btw - Project Mercy is basically like Habitat for Humanity. As we raise $3500, some of the members of a few SoCal churches get together to go to the "Colonias" east of Tijuana and build one house from the ground up. Some days we get enough people and funds to build two in one day.

It's a transforming moment for the families that get these houses. These people had been living in little sheds wired and nailed together from such things as old garage doors, scraps of plywood and other lumber scraped up here and there, that sort of thing, and just nailed together to form a box. And there are a lot of babies and children living in these situations. But it's very encouraging to stand there and see a good third of all the hundreds of such dwells be these Project Mercy houses... Infant mortality rates have improved, instances of air and water born bacteria decrease, and many more measurable benefits have been noticed as a result of these little Project Mercy houses. And also - they not only get the house but they get an outhouse and running water for the first time.

So there you are. I Don't Know Where I'm Going But I'm On My Way is a grown up album, doing grown-up work. Plus, in case you haven't heard it yet, it is absolutely terrific!

02-22-2008: DC9 at Night (Dallas Observer)
"It wasn’t until I began doing music at our church that I started to sense what could be done. I had keys to the building, so every Wednesday I’d go up there and set up the PA and just play for hours. It was a time of real discovery, especially with all these old gospel and hard-times songs, and I’d also work on my own song pieces. There’s something about working in a church. My pieces and the gospel stuff began to smear all over each other, and I wrote and wrote and wrote and basically found my voice, as they say." [read more]

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Reviews & Features

05-15-2008: Dallas Observer
Packed with enough religious and train imagery to make Billy Graham and Joshua Lionel proud, songs such as "What Are They Doing in Heaven Today?" and "Other, Younger Days" are starkly beautiful odes to lost parents and misspent youth. Hammond's commitment to spirituality is no fluke as the entire CD plays out like the soundtrack for Johnny Cash's trip to the holy land. Like some sort of historical document (Hammond narrates train stories in between songs and fills the insert with ancient railroad photos), I Don't Know Where I'm Going is a simple statement full of complicated ideas, an intense peek at Hammond's joys and fears. Not for the faint of heart (or agnostics and atheists), this is revelatory music from one of Dallas' premier talents. [read more]

05-12-2008: songs:illinois
The track “Lost At Sea” has a Paul Simon circa The Graduate feel. While “I Believe, I Believe” is more of an old country gospel song along the lines of something you might hear on Johnny Cash’s Hymns record. The new disc was recorded in analog which makes the slight reverb and uncompressed layering of instruments a wondefull byproduct of this technique. These songs were written during a period of time when Murry lost his parents, got married, had a child and was a leader at the Burbank Christian Church. So thematically the songs are a bit heavy, but musically they’re rather refined and quietly somber. Rhett Miller will surely have that last laugh with the new Old 97’s record, but Murry may have made the better record. [read more]

05-07-2008: Destination Written Upon My Feet: Jesus Manifesto
Listening to [Hammond’s solo] record in contrast to Miller’s The Believer, it’s hard to imagine that Hammond, who opens his solo debut with “What Are They Doing In Heaven Today”, has remained lifelong friends and musical partners with Miller, who penned that gorgeous ode to one-night stands, “Fireflies”. To put the difference in the starkest possible terms, it’s hard to hear much Jesus on Miller’s last record, or much sex on Hammond’s new one. [read more]

04-20-2008: Pegasus News
The album has both a gravity and depth of musicianship and production that caught me off guard on first listen. Murry manages to alternate original tunes with standards -- by the likes of the Carter Family, Eliza Snow and one of my favorite songwriters, "Public Domain" -- creating a seamless work where you sometimes can't tell which songs are which unless you know the originals. He also manages to avoid the self-conscious O Brother-itis that seems to infect so many "traditional" recordings these days. Overall, the vibe of the album left me in mind of walking around small-town Eastern North Carolina with my grandfather. As we tromped back and forth collecting rent from his trailer tenants, he sang folk songs about God, love, murder and trains in a manner that was as offhand as humming under your breath -- but simultaneously made clear that these were Serious Matters. [read more]

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Links

Liner Notes

Project Mercy

IDKWIGBIOMY @ Amazon.com

IDKWIGBIOMY @ Last.FM

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