If Bill Hicks played loud guitar; if Lenny Bruce sang protest songs; if Phil Ochs rocked. We can only imagine these scenarios, but we don’t have to imagine foul-mouthed yet whip-smart SAMMY Awards Hall of Famer Hamell on Trial. There’s a reason he was called “a homicidal Otto Preminger” by Rolling Stone. Whether singing, shouting or pontificating about raising his son, raising hell or resisting the police, Hamell—his 1937 Gibson guitar screaming like a metal band—hits the mark every time. “I’m like the Beastie Boys,” he wails in “the Meeting,” “except I’m only one.” Just ask anyone who saw Hamell at Lucky Dog the first time why you shouldn’t miss his return.
