“Walk With Me Through the Fire” by The Curse of K.K. Hammond offers a modern blues inferno
The Curse of K.K. Hammond again answers with a dark single, “Walk With Me Through the Fire.” This latest single, is a stark example of Hammond’s ability to make an intersection of tradition and innovation happen is beautiful and distinctly her own. “Walk With Me Through the Fire” hits the ground, stomping with the opening beat. The song opens in slow motion and then unfolds like a ritual, deliberate, intense, and drenched in raw emotion. Hammond’s indelible touch sits heavily in the deep well of Delta blues, but this is a fearless reinvention.
This single is elevated all the more by the combined muscle behind it. Ian Davidson’s cello adds to the entwined, dark, velvety undercurrent of the song, pulling its shifting emotions. Then came the mournful weeping slide guitar of Kaspar ‘Berry’ Rapkin, which sounds real and offers a direct line to the very soul of the Mississippi Delta. Together, they forge a sonic landscape that is intimate as well as cinematic. But when you’ve started to figure out its Southern Gothic formula, Lewis Taylor’s mariachi-flavored trumpet hauntingly strikes in like some otherworldly gunslinger from a lost Western. The shout-out to Ennio Morricone’s spaghetti western soundtracks is impossible to miss and impossible not to love.
The trumpets somewhat incongruously tacked on here add to “Walk With Me Through the Fire” a rare feel, with the squealing of the reckless brass carrying us to lawless outposts where danger and desire often walk arm in arm. What sets this song apart is its combination of country’s storytelling, folk’s vulnerability, blues spirit, and Americana atmosphere. Hammond owns them, melding their souls into a sound that is somehow at once old and new. “Walk With Me Through the Fire” draws you further into Hammond’s incendiary cosmos. It’s the type of track that will haunt you long after the final note fades, and it is a true testament to The Curse of K.K. Hammond’s undeniable skill and vision.
