Hamilton Michael Loomis (born November 1, 1975) is an American

electric blues Electric blues is blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930s and John Lee Ho ...

guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. One of his eight albums released to date, ''Ain't Just Temporary'', peaked at number 7 in the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Top Blues Albums Chart in September 2007. In describing Loomis' musical style, ''

Guitar Player ''Guitar Player'' was an American magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francis ...

'' magazine once stated, "if blues, soul, and rock can be said to form a triangle, you’ll find Hamilton Loomis right in the centre of it".

Life and career

Loomis was born in

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

, United States, to musical parents and he learned to play the drums, piano, guitar and harmonica at an early age. In his teenage years, he was part of a

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...

singing family group that performed at the Delta Blues Festival. Having broken away from this stricture, Loomis began playing solo and met a number of renowned blues musicians. Loomis later commented, "When I was coming up in the music scene, I was lucky to have musical mentors like

Joe "Guitar" Hughes Joe "Guitar" Hughes (born Maurice Hughes; September 29, 1937 – May 20, 2003) was an American blues musician from Houston, Texas. Career Hughes was inspired by Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and Johnny "Guitar" Watson – "anyone who had fire i ...

Johnny Copeland John Clyde Copeland (March 27, 1937 – July 3, 1997) was an American Texas blues guitarist and singer. In 1983, he was named Blues Entertainer of the Year by the Blues Foundation. He is the father of blues singer Shemekia Copeland. In 2017, ...

, and of course, rock icon

Bo Diddley Ellas Otha Bates (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist and singer who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, including Buddy ...

." “These ‘veterans’ took the time to teach and give advice to us youngsters, as if ‘passing the torch.’" Loomis also got help and advice from others including

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (April 18, 1924 – September 10, 2005) was an American singer and multi-instrumentalist from Louisiana. He was best-known as a blues music, blues performer, but his music was often eclectic and also touched on genres ...

and

Albert Collins Albert Gene Collins (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993)Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. He was noted for his powerful playing ...

. Diddley especially became a friend and mentor to Loomis, later making guest appearances on a couple of Loomis' albums (''Hamilton'' and ''Ain't Just Temporary''), and giving Loomis a red guitar that he still plays. In 1994, Ham-Bone Records issued Loomis' debut album, ''Hamilton'', which received a nomination for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for Best Contemporary Blues Album in 1995. In 1996, ''Just Gimme One Night'' was released. In 2000, Loomis released ''All Fired Up'', and acted in the role of Trevor in the

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

movie '' At Any Cost''. Three years later, Loomis signed a recording contract with

Blind Pig Records Blind Pig Records is an American blues independent record label. Blind Pig was formed in 1977 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Jerry Del Giudice, owner of the Blind Pig Cafe, and his friend Edward Chmelewski. The label is now based in San Francisco. I ...

, who issued, ''Kickin' It''. ''Ain't Just Temporary'' (2007), another Blind Pig release, peaked at number 7 in the ''

'' Top Blues Albums Chart in September 2007. In 2006, Loomis appeared as a guest on

Jimmy Needham Jimmy Needham (born August 22, 1985) is an American contemporary Christian musician signed to Inpop Records. He released debut album, ''For Freedom'', an independent release, in 2005, and after signing with the Christian record label Inpop Reco ...

's album, ''Speak'', playing guitar, bass and harmonica. He later returned to Ham-Bone Records as he felt that Blind Pig, as a blues only outlet, was restricting his output purely along those lines. ''Give It Back'' (2013) featured

Victor Wooten Victor Lemonte Wooten (born September 11, 1964) is an American bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He has been the bassist for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones since the group's formation in 1988 and a member of the band SMV with two other ...

(

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones Béla Fleck and the Flecktones is an American jazz fusion band that is known for its eclectic style and instrumentation, combining jazz Musical improvisation, improvisation with progressive bluegrass, Rock music, rock, Classical music, classical ...

) on bass and vocals. In the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

to the album, Loomis commented that he was hoping to share his knowledge with younger musicians. The title track was a musical tribute to his own mentors, and Loomis stated, "Now that they have passed, it's my duty, not just an obligation, to do the same with this generation's young musicians. That's giving it back, handing it down, passing it on, like the song says." In 2009, the Hamilton Loomis Band performed at the Darvel Music Festival. The Hamilton Loomis Band played at the

100 Club The 100 Club is a music venue located at 100 Oxford Street, London, England, where it has been hosting live music since 24 October 1942. It was originally called the Feldman Swing Club, but changed its name when the father of the current owner ...

in London in June 2015, at the conclusion of their UK tour. Loomis and his band had an extensive touring schedule in the United States throughout the first eight months of 2016. 2017 has an equally busy tour schedule with performances in a number of Texas and Midwest venues, along with performance dates in the UK throughout July and August.

Family

Hamilton Loomis is married to Sabrina LaField and they have one son, named Bo, after Bo Diddley, one of Loomis' influences.

Discography

Albums

References

External links