A Perfect Paradox of Personality

By Catherine Degucz

Last Wednesday, September 30th, Plymouth-based singer/songwriter, Douglas Hammond, met me in the lower-level studio of Plymouth’s own Wild Rose Moon, a performing arts center located in historic downtown. Hammond lives in Plymouth with his wife and children, and has been writing music for about fifteen years. It was one of the first days of fall, and he wore a sweater, a jacket, a hat, and glasses, all fitting in with the many colors of fall. His music reflects the same autumn aura that he brought to the studio that day- warm but brisk, personal yet reserved, a perfect paradox of personality. His music, classified most often as folk, is heavily influenced by the artists he felt connected to during his childhood and teenage years. At age 12, Hammond, for the first time, picked up his guitar with the unstoppable intent to learn his first song. “Green Day’s song, Good Riddance - Time of Your Life, was really big when I was in, kind of, that age to be hearing it,” says Hammond, “and I think that was the inspiration. That was the first song I wanted to play.”

His inspiration to continue after learning that first song, he says, came from influencesthroughout his youth. “I think a lot of it had to do with having heroes in songwriters as a child,” he says, “I really always wanted to do that, I think I just didn’t realize it for a long time that I had the need and the want and the ability to craft songs.” With upwards of one hundred songs written, music plays a large part in Hammond’s everyday life. In an interview with John Bahler for Wild Rose Moon’s ​Moonlight series, Hammond shared that time spent with his guitar often doubles as time spent bonding with his family. I asked him what he thought he might be doing with his time if he had never developed his love for music at the time that he did, and if he felt his life might be different had he never found that passion. “I try to think about that sometimes,” he replied, “and I honestly have no idea. I’d probably be doing what I’m doing now.

I work in retail, I’m a manager, but I’d probably just be a lot less well-adjusted without the outlet...I’d be more of a workaholic.” The music that Hammond creates is most of the time classified as folk music. In a self-written bio, he wrote, “most people seem to classify my music as folk.” He says that he would not classify his music much differently from that, but does not actively set out to create a certain genre of music when he starts writing. “I usually just kind of go with it ‘cause that’s what comes out,” he says. “I don’t think I ever set out to make music to...try to make a particular kind of music. I grew up on a lot of traditional songwriters like Cat Stevens, Gordon Lightfoot, but, I mean, I was also very into new metal as a teenager…” he laughed, “...as I’ve gotten older I’ve sort of gotten some more eclectic, different tastes. Whether it be pop music or certain veins of ‘80’s music, I feel like I’m collecting genres.”

As mentioned before, Hammond often draws inspiration from life experiences, and shared that one of the most weighted and meaningful songs he’s written is connected to a time that was very hard for him and his family. “A song called ‘Tiger Lily,’” he told me. “I don’t know that it’s necessarily the best I’ve produced as far as what an audience would perceive, but the best that I would probably say that I’m proud of or that I was able to put out...my daughter, when she was eighteen months old, she had cancer. She had to have surgery, had to have one of her kidneys removed...it was a very scary and jarring time,” said Hammond. “It seems like the material that a songwriter would be able to bite right into to try to alleviate that emotion, but it took me probably four years to actually tag that onto something...I think because of the time that that was able to simmer, I feel like that song holds a lot of potency for me because it was such a long time in the making and it was such a sensitive thing.”

“It can take minutes and it can take months,” Hammond elaborated when I asked about his creative process - the steps taken after the first spark of creativity, the typical amount of time it takes for a song to fully develop for him. “My process is not very disciplined...Typically I’ll have a lyric flying around in my head... and then, as I’m playing - I’ve always got to have the music first - if I can tag a lyric onto a particular chord progression or lick...that’s really where the song starts to be born for me.” Hammond, as anyone can tell, has a genuine passion for music and talent to match it. His songwriting process comes from a place deeper than his conscious self has access to most of the time. ​“​I seldom go into a song with the intent of what kind of song it's gonna be or what it's gonna be about, that's kind of dictated and predicated by whatever that first line ends up being,” he shared. In his interview with John Bahler, he likened that first line to a being of its own, a co-writer of the lyrics he produces.

Looking further into his published music, I found his song entitled “Leap of Faith.” This song stood out to me as an acknowledgement of the kind of loss we may feel in getting what we’re looking for. I asked him about his inspiration for the song, eager to learn more about the experiences that lead him to this piece. “ I don't know that I necessarily knew my intent when I started the journey into that song,” he answered. “Like I said with my process, honestly, ‘a leap of faith is just a lie, one that you tell yourself to get by’ is just what sort of came out. A lot of the rest of the writing process is pretty subconscious and sort of veiled for me at first until I’m able to sort of look back at the song.”

He isn’t used to analyzing his own work. Hammond explained a bit about what he sees in the song now that he is able to look back and reflect on the words he wrote. “It's sort of a loss in not knowing what your overarching goal is and if you knew what that goal is, would you really be happy with it?...It's about looking for what ​does you actually really try to look at what you're looking for...because I have a wife and kids that I love very much and they make me happier than probably any career I could- if i had a career out of songwriting and got to tour and people loved my music and I had recognition, that wouldn’t match what I have with my family.”

“Speak up and be confident.” Hammond, seeming at ease on the stage and comfortable sharing his journey with an audience, answered my last question of the afternoon with something many of us may struggle to keep in mind. “That's something that I’ve always struggled with, I've always been quiet, and I struggle with confidence and things...It's something that I try to tell myself often, is to speak up, and to put myself out there, because what’s the worst that could happen?” You can find Doug Hammond’s music on YouTube, Spotify, and Facebook by searching for “Douglas Hammond.” ​All moonlight episodes are archived for viewing on the Wild Rose Moon FaceBook page and at the Wild Rose Moon Media YouTube Channel, linked on​ ​wildrosemoon.com​, where a list of upcoming shows can be found. Wild Rose Moon’s Moonlight is made possible by a grant from Gibson Insurance and the Gibson Foundation, Encore Performing Arts, and from the Marshall County Community Foundation and Marshall County Tourism.