When Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady wrap this fall’s tour, Hot Tuna’s plugged-in performances will be a thing of the past.
BY DEREK McCABE
FEW GROUPS THAT formed in 1969 are still going strong with their founding members intact. Hot Tuna are an exception. Aside from a hiatus from 1978 to 1985, the band has been an ongoing collaboration between guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady. Through all that time, they’ve been a hybrid act of sorts, performing in both electric and unplugged formats for their devoted fan base.
But this fall’s 14-date tour will be the group’s last time on the road playing electric. Beginning next year, the band’s shows will be acoustic only. While no one is coming right out and saying it, those quieter, seated unplugged appearances are likely more to Kaukonen and Casady’s liking, now that they are, respectively, 82 and 79. For that matter, Hot Tuna’s electric days are already nearly a thing of the past, as is Kaukonen’s regular use of electric guitars.
“Hot Tuna doesn’t do that many electric shows, so I’m not as emotionally invested in guitars as I used to be,” he tells Guitar Player when we catch up with him before a July 20 performance at Great South Bay Festival in Patchogue, New York, in the heart of Long Island. “And I’m not being dismissive of the electric guitars that will be used, because I love them dearly. But I don’t handle them every day, as I do acoustic guitars.”
It’s been a long haul for the group, which Kaukonen and Casady formed while still members of Jefferson Airplane, during that band’s heyday. As the story goes, Airplane singer Grace Slick was recuperating from vocal cord surgery, and her bandmates — Kaukonen, Casady, guitarist Paul Kantner and drummer Joey Covington — were feeling restless. While Hot Tuna has had a fluid lineup over its history, Kaukonen and Casady have been its steady center, playing blues rock and Americana. In doing so, they’ve helped keep alive the music of country and blues artists such as Reverend Gary Davis, Jelly Roll Morton, Bo Carter and Blind Blake, introducing their timeless music to new generations of fans.
Affectionally known as the Captain, Kaukonen has been performing for over 58 years, during which time he’s been a prolific collaborator and solo artist. A Grammy-winning American guitar player and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, he has a celebrated fingerstyle method rooted in blues, folk and Americana, and his career as an American rock legend has made him an influential figure and in-demand instructor. He operates his own gu
