Review
"A magnificent blend of bluegrass, country, and country blues that is full of fine picking" -- Boston Globe
"Jorma Kaukonen is a master of American music" -- L.A. Weekly
"Jorma Kaukonen's transition from psychedelic guitar innovator to acoustic folk-blues virtuoso seems complete" -- Boston Phoenix
"Kaukonen doing what he does involves playing folk/blues-derived guitar with skill and dexterity few can match" -- San Francisco Chronicle
"music of spry grace and dignity" -- Washington Post
From the Artist
Songs seek me out when the time comes to record a project. It seems as if they know way before I do that at some point I am going to do another project. For example, "Fur Peace Rag," "A Life Well Lived" and "Living In The Moment" started to call my name in the very beginning of this century. "Rag" started in the back lounge of a bus. "Life" came to me as I was working in Canada with my friend Michael Falzarano and "Moment" started as I picked my guitar in our living room at home and finished itself as I sat on the back porch one warm Spring night.
In the Fall of 2003 Vanessa and I were having a heart to heart talk about relationships. She opened my eyes to some poignant realities, stopped in mid sentence and suddenly said with a smile, "This is a good idea for a song!" I ran to the upstairs of my new barn and wrote "Heart Temporary."
Over the years, I went down some different roads but spirituals always seemed to help light the way. The path of my life has taken many turns and the journey has been remarkable. Though today's world is a complicated place, I find myself living a simple life with my music. There is an unbroken thread that follows us from the beginning to the end and at this point in my life the thread circles me with love.
About the Artist
In a career that has already spanned nearly a half-century, Jorma Kaukonen has been the leading practitioner and teacher of fingerstyle guitar, one of the most highly respected interpreters of American roots music, blues, and Americana, and at the forefront of popular rock & roll. He is founding member of two legendary bands, The Jefferson Airplane and the still-touring Hot Tuna, a Grammy nominee, a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the most in-demand instructor in the galaxy of stars who teach at the Fur Peace Ranch Guitar Camp that he and his wife operate in picturesque Southeastern Ohio.
Jorma Kaukonen, Jr. was born and raised in the Washington D.C. area. At a local music store he met Jack Casady - beginning a musical partnership that continues to this day. After a break from college, Jorma moved to California, to return to classes and earn money by teaching guitar and backing musicians including a young female blues singer named Janis Joplin. He joined rock band The Jefferson Airplane, which got its name from Jorma, who was given the joke nickname Blind Thomas Jefferson Airplane, parodying the names of blues legends.
Casady arrived in San Francisco to play electric bass, and together they created much of The Jefferson Airplane's signature sound. Jorma and Jack would sometimes perform sets within sets at Airplane concerts, as well as play clubs as a duo. They struck a record deal, and Hot Tuna was born. Jorma left The Jefferson Airplane after the band's most productive five years, pursuing his full-time job with Hot Tuna and over the next three and a half decades Hot Tuna would perform thousands of concerts and release more than two dozen records. Jorma and Jack continue to tour as Hot Tuna, in recent years with mandolin virtuoso Barry Mitterhoff and, more recently, with drummer Erik Diaz.
In addition to his work with Hot Tuna, Jorma has recorded more than a dozen solo albums on major labels and on his own, beginning with 1974's Quah and continuing with Stars in My Crown, his debut on independent roots label Red House Records.
But performance and recording are only part of the story. In 1988 Jorma met a young woman named Vanessa Lillian. They married and started Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch Guitar Camp, located in the Appalachian foothills of Southeastern Ohio. Since it opened in 1998, thousands of musicians have gathered for weekends of master instruction offered by Jorma and other instructors who are leaders in their musical fields. A multitude of renowned performers make the trek to Ohio to teach at Fur Peace Ranch every year.
Jorma is quick to say that teaching is among the most rewarding aspects of his career. over the world. Amidst the teaching, touring and recording, Jorma Kaukonen finds time to be an active and enthusiastic motorcyclist, outdoorsman, and father.
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