Merced County blues band ‘Mike Hammar and the Nails’ releases third album after nearly 15 years
Mike Hammar quickly noticed his creative juices flowing a lot more after retirement. It was like a dam releasing a raging rapid after working 32 years in education, including the last seven years as an Atwater High associate principal.
Soon Hammar, 60, was able to string together lyrics, put together songs and topple unfinished work.
“The juices came back,” Hammar said. “I went and bought a brand new guitar. Man, I just started writing, finishing things that I had been working on. I always kept the notes, I pulled them all out. I just got to work.”
Hammar wrote the 12 songs and collaborated with the other members of his band, “Mike Hammar and the Nails” on what would become the recently released third album for “Raised in the Dirt.”
Hammar said the band’s first album in 14 years was a labor of love. It took about one year of recording and rerecording the tracks to get the album where the band wanted. “Raised in the Dirt” was released on Sept. 20 and is available on all formats, including Spotify, Pandora, Amazon, YouTube and the entire album can be purchased on Bandcamp.
“Raised in the Dirt” celebrates growing up in the Central Valley and the band’s roots in Merced County. It’s a follow-up album to the band’s second CD “Recipe for the Blues,” released in 2010 and the first album “Going Home,” which was produced in 2004.
“Mike Hammar and the Nails” was formed in 2001 when Hammar, who also serves as songwriter, producer, guitarist and vocalist, recruited two of the other original band members, bass guitarist Mark “Sparky” Gehres, 70, and drummer Greg Merino, 62.
Mike “The Professor” Boykin, 74, who plays harmonica, joined the band about two years ago. The fifth member is Hammond organist Allan Carroll, 77, who joined the band in 2005.
Harmonica player Jim Pederson of Los Banos is a former original member of the band who stepped away due to health issues about 2013.
Band of brothers
Hammar, Gehres and Boykin are all former local high school teachers. Hammar taught and coached football and track at Merced, Golden Valley, Atwater and Buhach Colony high schools. Boykin is a former AP Physics teacher at Golden Valley and Gehres taught photography and art at Livingston High.
“We’re kind of kind of band of brothers,” Hammar said. “We’ve gone through so many cool things together, this is kind of like our championship team. There is this sense of camaraderie, intimacy, and after a while you kind of become family.”
Hammar started playing in different local bands when he was 17 years old. He said he cut his teeth in music, playing at area Portuguese festivals.
He assembled this contemporary blues band “Mike Hammar and the Nails” 23 years ago with the intention of playing original songs, performing at blues festivals and making their own records.
Their first record “Going Home” received airplay all around Europe and college radio states in the United States. The bands big break came in 2009 when they won the Monterey Bay Blues Festival’s Battle of the Blues Bands, which led to invites to blues festivals up and down California.
“Winning the Monterey Blues Battle of the Bands, that was huge, that catapulted us to some bigger shows and having weekends, where we played a blues festival in Reno, and the next day we had another gig in Capitola,” Merino said. “I thought that was really neat. I mean, that’s what the big guys get to do, go play two festivals back-to-back like that.”
The band has been nominated for an Independent Music Award, a Native American Music Award and won two Modesto Area Music Awards.
Merino said his bandmates have become some of this closest friends, especially when he went through medical issues. Merino has had two kidney transplants and undergone two abdominal surgeries that required lengthy hospital stays.
“We’ve helped each other get through some hard times, and that seems to bring people together,” Merino said. “I’ve had more than my share of challenges over the 23 years, and to have the support of my band members has been a really comforting thing for me.”
Merino said Hammar and the group have always told him he has a spot in the band and they’ll be there when he’s ready to play.
“I never want to let them down, so I always made all the shows, but just to have them encouraging you to get stronger all the time means a lot,” Merino added. “They were always there for me and waited for me to come back.”
The COVID pandemic also became a huge hurdle in completing this third album. Especially for a band comprised of men in their 60s and 70s, and more susceptible to viruses and illnesses.
However, Hammar said the band is healthy and ready to travel for shows.
“Everyone just needs to remember to bring their meds and CPAP machines,” Hammar joked.
New music
Hammar said inspiration for his songs come from his life experiences. His songs are loosely based off things that have happened to him or someone he knows.
“Mike writes his own material, and his songs are pretty well crafted, they’re good story songs, and so that kind of keeps it interesting,” Gehres said “Everyone’s attitude is to keep having fun.”
The title song of the new album, “Raised in the Dirt” is about the beauty of living in the Central Valley and the hard-working people that make up this area.
The song includes lyrics such as:
A culture born in the heartland and it’s powered by true grit.
Made up of hardworking families, don’t know the meaning of the word quit.
The third verse of the title song contains the lyrics:
Where the valley floor and rolling hills are framed by mountain ranges
And your heart can be captured by the beauty of open spaces.
The sixth track “Don’t Rush It” was about enjoying life and taking the time to cherish special moments, Hammar said. For him, those moments included coaching his daughters Rachel and Rebecca as throwers in track during his time coaching at Buhach Colony.
“Don’t Rush It” includes the lyrics:
We’re moving so fast, working so hard before you know it, it’s gone too soon
So take the time to look around and slow it all down.
Hammar said just a few hours after the new album was released he had already received in invitation to a blues festival.
He said now that the lyrics and songs are flying off the page again he hopes the band can produce more albums in the near future.
Hammar said he’s always loved performing and adding the new record to the playlist makes the shows even more entertaining.
“I love the interaction, seeing the people reacting to the music,” Hammar said. “Especially, I’ll see somebody giggle at a line, so you know they’re actually listening You love to see people clapping and singing along because music’s always brought me so much joy and huge part of my my life. I like to share that with people.”
This story was originally published October 9, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
