Hot Tuna, the roots ensemble featuring veterans of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair and 1960s psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane, has finished recording its first new album in 20 years at a Woodstock studio.
“For us, it’s exciting to start going places we haven’t been before … driving a new road in the old car so to speak,” wrote Hot Tuna guitarist and vocalist Jorma Kaukonen, on his blog, www.jormakaukonen.com. “I’m really excited about this new Tuna CD and I hope you all will be, too. In any case, as always, we try to do our best.”
Recording of the new CD at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock was completed in December. Information on a title and release date were not available.
Hot Tuna has a long history in the Hudson Valley, performing numerous times over the years at the Bardavon 1869 Opera House and The Chance in Poughkeepsie.
Kaukonen is a former Ulster County resident and recorded his most recent solo CD, “River of Time,” at Levon Helm Studios.
Larry Campbell, a member of the Levon Helm Band and former Bob Dylan sideman, produced and performed on the new Hot Tuna record, as well as “River of Time.” Mandolin player Barry Mitterhoff — who has played in Hot Tuna for years — and drummer Skoota Warner also perform on the CD.
“It’s a very diverse choice of material,” Campbell said of the new record, “that all fits squarely within the Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna legacy.”
Kaukonen and bass player Jack Casady anchored Jefferson Airplane, which like the Grateful Dead emerged from San Francisco in the 1960s, pushing rock music into new territory with extended, adventurous, improvisational jams.
Kaukonen’s haunting guitar licks and Casady’s thumping bass lines give the classic Jefferson Airplane song, “White Rabbit,” much of its dark, mysterious feel.
Jefferson Airplane performed at Woodstock, the music festival staged in Sullivan County that more than 40 years later remains a crowning achievement of the baby boomer generation. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
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