Hot Tuna

Guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady formed Hot Tuna as a vacation away from Jefferson Airplane. This live 1969 debut relies heavily on Kaukonen’s expressive style of acoustic fingerpicking and tender-yet-tough vocals. Casady’s bass melodies provide ample musical flourishes too, alongside harmonica strains by the Bay Area’s gifted Will Scarlett. There’s an earnest, in-your-favorite-corner-bar feel with nods to early American forms such as ragtime, folk, jazz, and blues; there are songs by Jelly Roll Morton, Leroy Carr, and Reverend Gary Davis, plus several genre-adhering originals. The stoner-style vibe is addicting. The set include five bonus songs not on the original LP.

When Hot Tuna's self-titled debut album was released in May 1970, it seemed like the perfect spin-off project for a major rock group, Jefferson Airplane's lead guitarist and bass player indulging in a genre exercise by playing a set of old folk-blues tunes in a Berkeley coffeehouse.