Timeless music from ageless Hot Tuna
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Jay N. Miller
Posted: 05/02/2011
Forty two years after its founding as a side project, Hot Tuna
continues to be one of the most interesting musical outfits anywhere,
tackling blues, folk, bluegrass, and rock 'n' roll with some serious
kick. That would be the only impression you could take away from
Sunday night's two hour, 45-minute, two-set show before a soldout
house of 500 delirious fans at Showcase Live in Foxboro.
Hot Tuna, which basically means guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and
bassist Jack Casady, is on short record release tour celebrating
"Steady As She Goes," just out on Red House Records. It's their first
studio album in 20 years, and the dozen songs run the typical Tuna
gamut, from the marvelous bluegrass of "Vicksburg Stomp," to a couple
of tunes that are among the most compelling rock music we've heard this year.
Kaukonen and Casady were high school pals and bandmates in the
Washington, D.C. area where they grew up, and both ended up in San
Francisco where they partnered again in Jefferson Airplane. Hot Tuna
was formed in 1969 when Jefferson Airplane was sidelined while singer
Grace Slick had throat surgery. Originally it was intended to be
temporary, an acoustic group for the musicians to play some of the
classic blues they loved. But the reaction was so positive, by 1970
Hot Tuna was a permanent band of its own, working around the
Jefferson Airplane (and later Jefferson Starship) schedule.
Hot Tuna has gone here and there stylistically, as Kaukonen and
Casady explored new formats. From '74-77 they released three albums
as a power trio, verging on heavy metal, with long jamming. A hiatus
from '77-83 ended with a reunion tour in 1983 that focused on hard
rock, but it wasn't until '86 that a return to acoustic roots revived
their original fan base. The "Live at Sweetwater" and "Live at
Sweetwater II" albums in '92-93 were particular highlights, concert
albums featuring guests like Bob Weir, Maria Muldaur, and Jefferson
Airplane keyboardist Pete Sears. More recently, Casady and Sears have
toured with a jam band called Moonalice since 2007.
Kaukonen has also released about 15 solo albums over the years, and
the new Hot Tuna CD is on the same label as his most recent solo
efforts, Minnesota's acclaimed folk imprint, Red House Records. The
album was produced by Larry Campbell, who also plays guitar, fiddle,
organ and pedal steel on the album. Campbell might be best known for
his 'day job' as guitarist in Bob Dylan's touring band. The other
permanent members of the current Hot Tuna include drummer Skoota
Warner and Barry Mitterhoff on mandolin.
Sunday night's 21-songs included almost all of the new album, eleven
of the CD's dozen songs, along with some cherished Hot Tuna nuggets.
Some of the guitar interplay between Kaukonen and Campbell was
utterly transcendant, and seeing the band live you can't help but be
blown away by Mitterhoff's ability on mandolin, as he went toe-to-toe
with the two guitarists with blazing licks. Casady, of course, always
has delighted in playing 'lead bass,' and his use of melody and
rhythm shifted constantly from foundation to spotlight and back
again. Warner is a talented drummer, but his role here is mostly
support, as the focus is clearly on the dazzling front line.
Vocalist Teresa Williams spent most of her time providing sweet
harmony vocals, but her lone showcase, Reverend Gary Davis' old
gospel/blues "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning" was such a
visceral barnburner Kaukonen spoke for many when he shook his head at
its finish and said "I need a cigarette after that." She might
deserve a little more spotlight time, fellas.
An early highlight of the first set was "Angel of Darkness," an
easy-thumping rocker from the new CD that proves Kaukonen, 70, and
Casady, 67, can still bring the heat. The gospel-like "Children of
Zion" provided the first example of Mitterhoff's mandolin contrasted
with Kaukonen's fingerpicking leads, and Campbell's searing slide
guitar lines. Kaukonen began "Second Chances" with just his elegant
fingerpicking, before the ballad grew into a subtly rolling number
with more superb mandolin lines. The down-home, "Goodbye to the
Blues" featured the guitars and mandolin amiably dueling as if on
someone's back porch.
Kaukonen unlocked his Summer of Love roots for a bluesy romp through
"Rock Me Baby" that evoked Mike Bloomfield with its hard-edged
guitar. The driving rock of the new "A Little Faster" could rank with
the best Jefferson Airplane material, an invigorating blast of
mainstream rock powered by Mitterhoff's arpeggios on electric
mandolin. "Hit Single Number One" ended the first set with more
hard-edged rock, as Campbell unleashed some gutbucket slide guitar
lines to end the 75-minute first set.
Hot Tuna opened the 90-minute second set in a stripped down quartet,
minus Campbell and Williams, as Kaukonen's acoustic guitar drove an
evocative "I See the Light." It wasn't long before the rocking energy
of the new material was back, however, with the full band doing the
lively "Easy Now Revisited," and then the semi-autobiographical rush
of "Smokerise Highway," which featured the most intricate arrangement
of the night, with delectably textured guitars and mandolin.
The fingerpicking festival on "Good Shepherd" was certainly a delight
for anyone who remembers what a hootenanny was, and Campbell's
ability to mimic pedal steel on his guitar was a key, but at about
twenty minutes long, it was a bit much. That's the point where
Williams took the microphone and basically burned down the house with
her sultry vocal.
Kaukonen followed that with "Things That Might Have Been," a subdued,
romantic ballad where the mandolin work was exquisite. The old
bluegrass number "Vicksburg Stomp," from Papa Charlie McCoy for music
historians, was a chance for Mitterhoff to really shine.
Kaukonen took note of the royal wedding in his next introduction,
asking "Didn't we start a revolution right around here so we wouldn't
have to worry about that stuff?" The song that followed, the goofy,
rambling blues "If This Is Love, I Want My Money Back," was certainly
a left-handed salute to romance.
For their encore Hot Tuna did a blistering "Funky #7," starting with
a seminal Casady bass solo and turning into a massive jam that saw
everyone take memorable solos. Again, the band's warmth and ease with
each other made it feel like a casual jam session on someone's basement.
The night ended with Mississippi John Hurt's "Praying on the Old
Campground," an old gospel/blues that occasioned some more
mind-boggling finger-picked guitar and mandolin, as Hot Tuna fans
tried mightily to dance their way to heaven.
.
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