01907 Spring 2024

16 | 01907
Musician and artist Don
Hammontree tunes his guitar.
Don Hammontree's
latest musical venture,
"House of Pizza."
HAMMONTREE, continued from page 15
Hammontree recalled. “And I saw this
keyboard at the local department store…
I got it for Christmas and I played it
faithfully for years until I went off to
college.”
More than 40 years later, Hammontree
still has his Casiotone MT-40. Nowadays,
the guitar is his primary instrument.
Hammontree was a part of multiple bands
throughout his music career, with his most
recent group known as Bad Fogelberg.
“Dan Fogelberg, the singer, he went
to my high school. He was from Peoria,
so that was kind of a tribute to him,”
Hammontree said. “Technically that band
has never ended, we put
out a CD in 2017.”
A moment that helped
fortify Hammontree’s
passion for music was
when he got to meet
and interview guitarist
and songwriter Ritchie
Blackmore from Deep
Purple during his time as a
freelance journalist for the
Boston Herald.
“He’s my hero, absolute hero,”
Hammontree said. “May 16, 2011. I
remember the date.”
“House of Pizza” is the title of
Hammontree’s most recent album, which
features 12 songs he wrote.
Hammontree’s passion for visual art
developed later in life. The Salem resident
recalled drawing a lot in his earlier life before
music became his main creative outlet.
“When my daughter was little we were
drawing together and she was saying, ‘Daddy,
you draw pretty good,’” Hammontree said.
“So I think that was a push.”
Hammontree’s paintings vary from
fantastical incorporations of brutalist
architecture all
around the world, to
quaint portraits of a
Swampscott couple
sitting on a bench on Lynn Shore Drive.
His works have been featured in multiple
libraries in the area, and he sells his pieces
both in person and online.
When it comes to balancing everything
in his busy life, Hammontree credits his
wife of five years, Vicki Lepoutre, for her
encouragement of his artistic pursuits.
Hammontree proposed to Lepoutre on
King’s Beach in 2017.
Hammontree’s oldest biological
daughter, Liliana, is following in her
father’s footsteps as an artist.
He also said that the ability to work
from home, both for his job and his
creative pursuits, has been a big help.
“Most of what I’m able to do is around
the house,” Hammontree said. “It’s not like
when I was back in Chicago and we were
rehearsing in practice spaces and playing
a million bars from here to Indiana. I feel
like I’m a lot more present.”