Hot Tuna Acoustic

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How do you sustain a career in music for over 50 years? More than half a century ago guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady started playing the kind of music they really wanted to, wherever it took them creatively, and unlocked the secret to Hot Tuna’s timeless success.

In the 1960s, Kaukonen and Casady were founding members of Jefferson Airplane, one of the biggest rock bands in the world at the time, when they started performing together as Hot Tuna. “It was a different kind of music that didn’t really fit into the landscape of Jefferson Airplane, but we really liked it,”

The band released a debut record in 1970, a live album which captured the spark of what became their trademark — a willingness to do it differently every time.

“We each brought what we had to the table, and we learned to read each other really well,” Kaukonen has said. “We didn’t plan anything, it was just fun to do.”

Fans loved their songs like “Keep on Truckin,” a “bluesy feel-good jam with deep American roots and laid-back energy from the golden age of jam rock.” And the live shows became legendary, with long improvisations, and sets that could go up to six hours of extended versions of songs.

A revolving door of touring musicians and studio musicians sometimes joined them on stage, and sometimes it was just the two of them as a duo. But Hot Tuna took off, surpassing Jefferson Airplane which later splintered off into Tuna and Jefferson Starship.

The band’s history of transition started when, after becoming known for playing acoustic blues, it morphed into electric rock and continued experimenting with different styles in more than a dozen records.

In 1974, Hot Tuna released several albums with a heavier style, including “America’s Choice,” “Yellow Fever” and “Hoppkorv,” which became known as the band’s “rampage years.” Kaukonen was quoted as saying the change of focus was because “it was just fun to be loud.”

Throughout the 1990s it alternated between acoustic and electric styles, performing a mix of original songs, written mostly by Kaukonen, as well as covers of blues and folk legends like Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. Kaukonen called it, “That magic of playing with someone who understands you.”

Now both in their 80s, they have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, but their love of music is still as fresh as it ever was.

“There’s a natural process,” Casady says, “It’s always interesting, and we really don’t try to force things. We play the song, see how it takes shape, and then start just naturally addressing different responsibilities within the songs. The basic ingredient is listening to each other.”

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