Mercury Studios will release on July 7 a special three-CD boxed set of Hot Tuna, in-concert from the ‘90’s. Complete with full acoustic band—no drums—at The Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, California two nights in a row, and at Stove’s in Yokohama, Japan. Originally released by Relix in the ‘90s, then reissued/remastered with bonus tracks by Eagle Records in 2004, the box will house for the first time all three shows in one sterling package complete with poster.
Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist/Author Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady have been performing as Hot Tuna since 1969 when they were both in San Francisco’s pre-eminent rock’n’roll band, Jefferson Airplane. When the Airplane morphed into Jeffferson Starship, the pair went on as a duo and as a collective with a rotating cast to concentrate on their blues, folk, country, early pop and jams to make Hot Tuna an early forerunner of Americana . Loved by millions for decades ever since, these shows contain the best of what they’ve been known for: hot rockin’ blues, bluegrass, folk and country. (In the ‘90s, they were even doing Jefferson Airplane covers, plus covers of Elvis, Dylan, Bill Monroe and Johnny Cash!) Special guests include Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir and folksinger Happy Traum. Of special note is an exceedingly rare version of Jefferson Airplane's 1966 "Embryonic Journey" performed acoustically with no drums.
Jorma has been for years now the foremost exponent of the Southeast Piedmont Blues Guitar fingerpicking style that legends like Blind Blake, the Rev. Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, Brownie McGhee and Blind Willie McTell brought to prominence. His 2018 Been So Long autobiography explains his transition from Acid Rocker to Folk Blues Hero. He now is, in fact, that which he first started out emulating: the real deal…a bluesman of the finest order. And no one adds to his oeuvre like Jack Casady. Be prepared to be blown away.
Live At Sweetwater’s CD 1
January 27, 1992
Jorma Kaukonen, vocals, guitar, dobro, pedal steel
Jack Casady, bass
Michael Falzarano, vocals, guitar, mandolin, harmonica
Guests include Bob Weir, guitar, vocals; Pete Sears, keyboards; Wavy Gravy and Maria Muldaur, vocals.
1) Whinin’ Boy Blues
2) Great Change
3) Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out
4) I Know You Rider
5) Embryonic Journey
6) Trouble In Mind
7) Bank Robber
8) I See The Light
9) I’ll Be There For You
10) True Religion
11) I Belong To The Band
12) Maggie’s Farm
13) That’s All Right Mama
14) Been So Long
15) Genesis
16) Ice Age
17) Praise The Lord And Pass The Snakes
Live At Sweetwater’s CD 2
January 28, 1992
Same instrumentation with Happy Traum replacing Wavy Gravy, plus the additions of Bobaloo (bass) and Keith Corssan (sax).
1) Hesitation Blues
2) Dime For Beer
3) Trial By Fire
4) Death Don’t Have No Mercy
5) 99 Year Blues
6) San Francisco Bay Blues
7) Too Many Years
8) Blue Moon Of Kentucky
9) Ain’t Got No Home
10) Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
11) Walkin’ Blues
12) Third Week In The Chelsea
13) My AK-47
14) Parchman Farm
15) Folsom Prison Blues
Live In Japan CD 3
January 1997
Stove’s
Yokohama, Japan
Jorma Kaukonen, vocals, guitar
Jack Casady, bass
Michael Falzarano, guitar
Pete Sears, keyboards
Harvey Sorgen, drums
1) Walkin’ Blues
2) Parchman Farm
3) True Religion
4) Been So Long
5) Uncle Sam Blues
6) Vampire Woman
7) Follow The Drinking Gourd
8) Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burning
9) Let Us Get Together
10) Third Week In The Chelsea
11) 99 Year Blues
12) Ice Age
13) San Francisco Bay Blues
14) Folsom Prison Blues
15) Mann’s Fate
