Hot Tuna's acid folk blues
Ex-Jefferson Airplane inseparable pals Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady formed Hot Tuna more than 50 years ago, in 1969, first as an acoustic spin-off of their mother group, before it became a full-time affair when the J.A. was disbanded as such to become the Jefferson Starship in 1974.
Hot Tuna is a flexible group built around the core formed by the two above-mentioned pair and rather turned towards old roots music material (blues, ragtime, gospel, bluegrass, hillbilly, folk...) adapted to contemporary folk-rock sound standards.
Twenty years after their 1972 emblematic third album "Burgers", they celebrated with two live nights at the Sweetwater Saloon in the Californian town of Mill Valley, in the San Francisco Bay area, in the end of January 1992, with guests popping in such as Grateful Dead's Bob Weir, blues-jazz singer Maria Muldaur, keyboardist Pete Sears, and guitar master Happy Traum. These two concerts were recorded and released in two albums in 1992 and 1993.
Jorma Kaukonen, today 81, has always remained an acoustic rural and gospel blues practitioner and never stopped playing the genre, even during the Jefferson Airplane years.
Later, in 1989, feeling a need to transmit his art, he and wife Vanessa opened the Fur Peace Ranch Guitar Camp near Pomeroy in southeast Ohio.
Jack Casady, 77, is an innovative musician who transformed the use of bass in rock music with the Jefferson Airplane, playing his instrument in a melodic approach rather than as a simple rhythmical tool, inspired by the instrumental improvisation concept of jazz. He is the one who played the bass line on Jimi Hendrix' "Voodoo Chile" (on the "Electric Ladyland" album), and performed live on stage with him during most of 1968. He and Kaukonen met in their home upper-class neighborhood in Washington D.C. and have been linked by a solid friendship since their high school years.
This double live treat is a musical voyage through a quarter of a century of Hot Tuna's history. Their repertoire features different folk music genres but the "Hot Tuna sound" is recognizable miles away. These two memorable sets offer :
- early '70s emblematic songs like "True Religion" and "99 Year Blues";
- neo-country ballads like "Bank Robber" or "I See the Light" (a revival of the genre initiated by West Coast groups as The Byrds, Grateful Dead, Flying Burrito Bros. or New Riders of the Purple Sage and of course Hot Tuna), and West Coast folk-rock bluesy ballads that bring back memories of the Jefferson Airplane, like "Embryonic Journey", "Genesis", "Ice Age", "Third Week in the Chelsea" or the real blues "My AK-47";
- covers of Jelly Roll Morton's "Winin' Boy Blues" and "Dime for Beer", Rev. Gary Davis' "Great Change", "I Belong to the Band" and "Death Don't Have No Mercy", Bob Dylan's "Maggie's Farm", Jesse Fuller's "San Francisco Bay Blues", Woody Guthrie's "Ain't Got No Home", or Mose Allison's "Parchman Farm", in a great psychedelic version with Pete Sears' crazy organ !;
- traditional pieces like "Trouble in Mind", "Hesitation Blues", "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl";
- oddly, the final track, "Endless Sleep", is a studio recording featuring a drummer, Harvey Sorgen.
F
rom West Coast style folk-rock tracks to roots acoustic blues, folk, gospel and even bluegrass (Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky"), the large but always perfectly interpreted spectrum of Hot Tuna is all here, musically more eclectic on the 1992 first album, more turned towards blues in the 1993 one.
Kaukonen immediately identifiable voice is a Hot Tuna trademark, and his expert guitar technique, electric or acoustic, is that of a great guitar finger-picker.
The other Hot Tuna trademark is undoubtedly Casady's throbbing sound bass playing swinging melodic lines. The rhythm guitar, mandolin and/or harmonica of Michael Falzarano bring extra depth to the sound of the drumless trio.
Note : the 2004 re-release of both albums by Eagle Records, features extra tracks :
→ On Live at Sweetwater One : "I Know You Rider" (Traditional, 4:41), "True Religion" (Jorma Kaukonen, 4:37), "That's Alright Mama" (Arthur Crudup, 2:26), "Been So Long" (Kaukonen, 3:46).
→ On Live at Sweetwater Two : "Trial by Fire" (Kaukonen, 4:30), "Too Many Years" (Kaukonen, 3:47), "Walkin' Blues" (Robert Johnson, 4:14), and "Folsom Prison Blues" (Johnny Cash, 6:10) in place of the final studio track "Endless Sleep" (Reynolds, 3:13) featured on LAS One.
►The Fur Peace Ranch Guitar Camp : https://www.furpeaceranch.com/, and its video YT channnel : https://www.youtube.com/user/FurPeaceRanch
Hot Tuna has always swimmed between the streams of electric folk-rock and acoustic finger-picking blues and folk. In either style, the two cornerstones of the band are top instrumentists.
Later, in 1989, feeling a need to transmit his art, he and wife Vanessa opened the Fur Peace Ranch Guitar Camp near Pomeroy in southeast Ohio.
- early '70s emblematic songs like "True Religion" and "99 Year Blues";
- neo-country ballads like "Bank Robber" or "I See the Light" (a revival of the genre initiated by West Coast groups as The Byrds, Grateful Dead, Flying Burrito Bros. or New Riders of the Purple Sage and of course Hot Tuna), and West Coast folk-rock bluesy ballads that bring back memories of the Jefferson Airplane, like "Embryonic Journey", "Genesis", "Ice Age", "Third Week in the Chelsea" or the real blues "My AK-47";
- traditional pieces like "Trouble in Mind", "Hesitation Blues", "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl";
- oddly, the final track, "Endless Sleep", is a studio recording featuring a drummer, Harvey Sorgen.
F
rom West Coast style folk-rock tracks to roots acoustic blues, folk, gospel and even bluegrass (Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky"), the large but always perfectly interpreted spectrum of Hot Tuna is all here, musically more eclectic on the 1992 first album, more turned towards blues in the 1993 one.Kaukonen immediately identifiable voice is a Hot Tuna trademark, and his expert guitar technique, electric or acoustic, is that of a great guitar finger-picker.
Well known of West Coast psychedelic era music fans and though still very active today, Hot Tuna might not be so familiar to some other or younger music lovers. These two albums are certainly a superb way to fill this gap. ■
Note : the 2004 re-release of both albums by Eagle Records, features extra tracks :
→ On Live at Sweetwater One : "I Know You Rider" (Traditional, 4:41), "True Religion" (Jorma Kaukonen, 4:37), "That's Alright Mama" (Arthur Crudup, 2:26), "Been So Long" (Kaukonen, 3:46).
→ On Live at Sweetwater Two : "Trial by Fire" (Kaukonen, 4:30), "Too Many Years" (Kaukonen, 3:47), "Walkin' Blues" (Robert Johnson, 4:14), and "Folsom Prison Blues" (Johnny Cash, 6:10) in place of the final studio track "Endless Sleep" (Reynolds, 3:13) featured on LAS One.
►The Fur Peace Ranch Guitar Camp : https://www.furpeaceranch.com/, and its video YT channnel : https://www.youtube.com/user/FurPeaceRanch
→ https://youtu.be/okk8zdr5irM
→ on LocalMotion on 91.3 WVKR in 2019 : https://youtu.be/bGb4Anpt1Fg
► Jorma Kaukonen shares about his book "Been So Long: My Life and Music" at Gramercy Books in Bexley, OH, in 2020 : https://youtu.be/i_ZFq3SJCMU
► Audio interview of Jack Casady
→ in 2004 : https://youtu.be/yp65qXM2vqg
→ in October 2020 : https://youtu.be/URYjKSEkuvw
► Audio interview of Jack Casady & Jorma Kaukonen on Hawaï Public Radio in 2019 : https://youtu.be/lal7BMAHS5g
Live concerts videos [all (very) long duration]
→ The Early Years
► Hot Tuna - Full Concert Recorded Live: 3/22/1973 - 46th Street Rock Palace (Brooklyn, NY) : https://youtu.be/Ucti8H6cCZk
► Hot Tuna - Full Concert Recorded Live: 11/20/1976 - Capitol Theatre (Passaic, NJ) : https://youtu.be/IiniZha6PQM
→ The Middle Years
► Hot Tuna full Concert at the San Francisco Fillmore Auditorium in 1988 (2h44) : https://youtu.be/4UaDtS0raIg► Hot Tuna at the Paramount Theater in Springfield, MA, in 1990 : https://youtu.be/oR09OemRMWA
► Hot Tuna at the Carefree Theatre, West Palm Beach, FL, 1992 (complete show) : https://youtu.be/VPQriO_A-zM
→ The Recent Years
► Jorma Kaukonen with Barry Mitterhoff (mandolin, guitar, banjo) at the Suffolk Theater in Riverhead, NY, in 2014 :
→ Part 1 : https://youtu.be/WLp5fipOpL4
→ Part 2 : https://youtu.be/4bjYLAq5gLY
→ Part 3 : https://youtu.be/PDHXxQJY1ok
→ Part 4 : https://youtu.be/GKnkemY3Ctc
► Kaukonen & Casady at the Clive Davis Theater in Los Angeles in 2016 : https://youtu.be/zqH2-hwEp3g► Acoustic Hot Tuna live at Fur Peace Ranch in November 2018 : https://youtu.be/Xy5nJ0aACu4
► Kaukonen & Casady live from the Fur Peace Ranch in May 2021 : https://youtu.be/Ib8xpVLCsac
► Electric Hot Tuna Live at Fur Peace Ranch in November 2021 : https://youtu.be/00Y0AgDhWn0
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