Hali Hammer has lived a life that is as eclectic as her music. She grew up in New York surrounded by music.  “My mother and father were always singing,” she recollected. “My mother always had the record player on, and she would sing me to sleep at night.”  In college, Hali was wowed by the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Peter Paul and Mary.  This was during the Vietnam war, and the words and songs she heard during that time would go on to play a significant role, not only in her music, but in her “public voice” as well.

Hali joined her first band in 1968 while she attended Queens College, and went on to play both with other musicians and as a solo act. She was a member of Citizens to Save Minnewaska in upstate New York, and had the inspiration for and helped produce the compilation album Save the Mountain in 1981 which aided in funding the legal fight. The property is now Minnewaska Lake State Park.

Hali later moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, and joined Freedom Song Network in 1985. She was a member of the chorus that sang onstage behind Nelson Mandela at the Oakland Coliseum. Her song Bottom of the Ninth was aired on KNBR-San Francisco preceding the first game of the 1989 Bay Bridge World Series. She became active in the San Francisco Folk Music Club (she is currently the Vice President) and was the coordinator of the 2003 Berkeley Free Folk Festival. Hali created and produced Sing Out for Earth Day, a video montage of 33 groups across the nation singing This Land Is Your Land on April 22, 2012, in the same key (D) and at the same time (noon Pacific, 1 pm Mountain, 2 pm Central, 3 pm Eastern). It debuted at a screening in San Francisco that July 14th, the 100th anniversary of Woody Guthrie’s birthday. She has been listed in Who’s Who of American Women.

Hali’s latest album, Eclectic Circus is preceded by three other albums, I Refuse To Believe, Gypsy-O, and The Best of Hali Hammer. Recently, KC Cafe Radio Music Director Kathy Forste visited with Hali via Skype. They talk about her various political and musical causes, her upbringing, and the significance of the “voice” behind the music.

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