Tuna Melt

A mishmash of musical genres, featuring Jorma Kaukonen and Charlie Musselwhite, will heat up Utica’s Stanley Theatre

The New Times Interview

Jorma Kaukonen is not a musician content to sit on his laurels. A founding member of the Jefferson Airplane, the guitarist was part of the San Francisco psychedelic rock movement of the 1960s before forming the acoustic/electric synthesis Hot Tuna with longtime partner, bassist Jack Casady, in 1969.

A member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with Jefferson Airplane, and a Grammy nominee, Kaukonen has nearly 50 recordings on his resume with Jefferson Airplane (eight), Hot Tuna (25), and solo (14), as well as many others as a guest performer. In addition, Kaukonen has been teaching the finger-picking style of guitar since 1962 and now runs his teaching facility, The Fur Piece Ranch, in rural southeast Ohio, for aspiring guitarists.

A lifelong road performer, Kaukonen will bring the Hot Tuna Blues show, featuring blues harmonica great Charley Musselwhite and two-time Grammy winning singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale, to the Stanley Theatre, 259 Genesee St., Utica, on Thursday, Feb. 3 at 8 p.m. Tickets and information are available at 797-0055, (800) 745-0797 or online at www. mwpai.org.

Kaukonen recently spoke to The New Times from his Jeep in Ohio.

Q: You’re bringing Electric Hot Tuna with Charlie Musselwhite and Jim Lauderdale to the Stanley. What’s in the band?

A: The Hot Tuna Electric Band, besides {bassist} Jack Casady and myself, is my friend Barry Mitterhoff on mandolin and sundry other instruments, Skoota Warner on drums and G.E. Smith on guitar.

And then Charlie Musslewhite, one of the great harmonica players of all time. And Jim Lauderdale. His money gig is a songwriter. He’s written a million hits. As a performer he’s a great singer and guitar player. We’re going to have a lot of fun backing Charlie and Jim. We’re going to be doing some things from Charlie’s new CD The Well (Alligator Records). We just completed our first studio album in 20 years. It’s called Steady As She Goes (Red House). It’ll be out in April. We’ll be doing material from that as well as stuff we’ve played over the ages, all the way back to 1969. Is this a family publication? We play everything from the erection to the Resurrection.

Q: Charlie, a blues musician, and Jim, who credits Ralph Stanley and George Jones as his main influences, bring diverse elements to your act. How will you make all that work?

A: I grew up with country music. I love that kind of music. We’ll back Jim with whatever he needs to have done. I’m looking forward to having him sing some harmonies with me. We’re going to start the show with an acoustic trio, and then we’ll add guys and do whatever we’re going to do with Charlie and Jim and then get the whole band together.

Q: I hear the echo of Jefferson Airplane in Hot Tuna’s electric music. Is that correct?

A: Of course. Jack and I were with the Airplane for the seven years of its existence. I learned to play electric guitar with the band and I owe the band a huge debt of gratitude for teaching me the music that shaped where I went after that.

Q: What’s your lasting impression of Jefferson Airplane’s music?

A: We had songwriters that brought nontraditional chord changes and harmonies to the table. I came to the band as a three-chord blues player, but I had really exciting influences in the band and it made me think outside of the box that I was used to. On the new Hot Tuna album a lot of the chord changes and writing is a lot different from the comfort zone that I would normally go to and it had the same excitement that I felt with the Airplane when we did things that I didn’t think of.

Q: Did the music of Jefferson Airplane have influences beyond Hot Tuna?

A: In some respects. I don’t follow modern rock music because the lyrics don’t speak to me. Some of the kinds of guitar sounds that we have influenced people down the line.

Q: You played at Woodstock. What impression has remained with you from that performance?

A: It’s a seminal event, an iconic event. We went there the night before we played, we were there all day, we played late and it rained. I remember all those people and the feeling of “us” and “them” that we really don’t have anymore because now I guess I’m “them.” But there was that paradigm shift where the so-called counterculture wasn’t counter anymore because it was “the culture.” But if I worked a gig like that today that was that disorganized with all the problems that they had I’d go, “This gig sucks, I’m never going to work it again.”

Q: What was the inspiration for forming Hot Tuna?

A: For a lot of reasons Jefferson Airplane just wasn’t fun anymore. We were all starting to mature in different musical directions. We {Kaukonen and Casady} wanted to play that kind of music {blues and country} and Jefferson Airplane wasn’t right to do that.

Q: Who are your major influences?

A: The Reverend Gary Davis. He’s one of the great figures of 20th century American music. His playing is so brilliant. He was so upbeat, what I call a “biophile,” a lover of life. There’s always hope in his music. Also Brownie McGhee, Big Bill Broonzy, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin’ Wolf. I listened to that stuff relentlessly.

Q: Tell me about your guitar camp, the Fur Piece Ranch.

A: We’re in a rural area of Ohio {Pomeroy}. My original idea was a campfire and a couple of hay bales, but my wife wanted to build a school. We built 25 buildings on 119 acres, we have a 200-seat theater and a local public radio show. It’s our 15th year. We’re open from March to November. We have a bunch of great teachers on weekends from Friday morning to Monday morning and there’s nothing to do but play music. Our teachers do a show on Saturday night.

Q: Who do you listen to today?

A: I tend to listen to bluegrass, traditional country, blues. I like the songwriter-performer Chip Taylor and traditional country artists like Patty Loveless and Mary Chapin Carpenter.

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Finger-picking good: Jorma Kaukonen and his unusual style of guitar playing will fill the Stanley Theatre on Thursday.