{"id":586,"date":"2011-08-26T05:26:17","date_gmt":"2011-08-26T10:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=586"},"modified":"2011-08-26T05:26:17","modified_gmt":"2011-08-26T10:26:17","slug":"hot-tuna-forty-years-on-still-going-steady-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/26\/hot-tuna-forty-years-on-still-going-steady-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Tuna: Forty Years On, Still Going Steady (Part Two)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The bridging of styles between rock, blues and country is something that Hot Tuna<\/strong> has been about since the very beginning. Nobody called it Americana in \u201870, but that\u2019s what it was. Noting the popularity of Americana in the 21st<\/sup> century, Jack laughs when I suggest that maybe popular music has finally caught up with Hot Tuna. \u201cYou guys who write about this stuff, always put labels on the music.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cReally,\u201d bassist Jack Casady<\/strong> concedes, \u201cthere\u2019s a certain truth to your saying that Hot Tuna has always brought that music out to our audience. In the beginning, people thought that we had written<\/em> these Reverend Gary Davis<\/strong> songs. We had to educate people: \u2018These are some of the artists we listen to, and we\u2019re going to present them in a slightly different light.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But in the end, Jack insists that \u201cit\u2019s really not as complicated as people make it out to be.\u201d He says that \u201cit\u2019s fifty years later, and we\u2019re still digging these influences, and paying tribute to the great musicians — of the 1920s, \u201830s, \u201840s, \u201850s — that we listen to.\u201d Reflecting on the timeless nature of that music, Jack notes \u201cthe material speaks for everybody, without pigeonholing it in a political timeframe. Because, in a certain sense, politics are all the same. The struggles that people have are all the same, no matter what generation \u2013 or century — you\u2019re from.\u201d<\/p>\n

He characterizes Jorma Kaukonen<\/strong> and himself as \u201cexplorers of these different genres. We try to inspire ourselves, and try to present things that make us want to play. We pass it on to our listeners through the means that we have: I play bass. Jorma plays guitar and sings.\u201d<\/p>\n

As has often been the case onstage and on record Hot Tuna is more than just Jack and Jorma. For eight years and running, Barry Mitterhoff<\/strong> has played mandolin with the group. Jack says that Barry \u201clends his ability for melody and tremendous capacity to sort through different genres of music\u201d to Hot Tuna. \u201cHis influences only expand our world as well,\u201d Jack says.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor this project,\u201d Jack says, \u201cit was a great pleasure for me as a bass player to work on the rhythmic foundations with [drummer] Skoota Warner<\/strong> and Larry Campbell.\u201d That approach, says Jack, \u201callowed Jorma to really concentrate on his vocal and his guitar playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The harmony vocals of Teresa Williams<\/strong> are a key ingredient to the sound on Steady As She Goes<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019m so happy that Larry was able to bring Teresa in,\u201d Jack says. \u201cAnd I\u2019m happy that Jorma worked so well with her.\u201d He makes special note of \u201cSmokerise Journey.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>On that song, Jack\u2019s goal was to \u201cshow my rhythm & blues roots, but at the same time, my family\u2019s from Wheeling, West Virginia; I have that dichotomy working within me.\u201d He recalls thinking, \u201cI don\u2019t want it to fall too heavily on the r&b side,\u201d and found that Teresa\u2019s Appalachian vocals struck just the right tone. \u201cShe\u2019s the real deal,\u201d Jack says.\u201d He marvels that a song that was originally only \u201ca verse and a chorus\u201d ended up showcasing what he sees as \u201cthe most fun and intriguing things about working in a studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack is especially proud of the collaborative approach employed on this album \u201cWe were old enough and \u2013 finally<\/em> — mature enough to let everybody\u2019s ideas develop. He points out Skoota Warner\u2019s contribution: \u201cEvery song has a unique rhythm; he\u2019s never just \u2018playing along.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack\u2019s bass playing style on the Jefferson Airplane albums of the 60s and early 70s differs greatly from his work \u2013 acoustic or electric \u2013 with Hot Tuna. \u201cAs a bass player, I\u2019m dealing with the material; the material will dictate the style. For me, it was really great: I was fortunate enough to be thrown into a situation where I started to have to develop my own material.\u201d He contrasts that with \u201cotherwise having always to hear somebody else\u2019s ideas first before you get to develop your own.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got to the Airplane,\u201d Jack recalls, \u201cthey had all these different players and writers from different backgrounds. Jorma and I had the most in common; we had played in a lot of rhythm & blues bands, and had worked on arrangements. So when I came to work on Paul<\/strong> [Kantner<\/strong>]\u2019s songs, or Marty<\/strong> [Balin<\/strong>]\u2019s songs, or Grace<\/strong> [Slick<\/strong>]\u2019s songs, it really gave me a fertile field to experiment with the bass, and to do different things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember working on Paul\u2019s songs,\u201d Jack says. \u201cMost of his are written in an anthem-like fashion; it was a really tough not to crack, trying to make those songs swing. So I\u2019d be furiously playing along, trying to put notes together, trying to get those songs up and running, to make them move.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMarty was little more pop-oriented,\u201d Jack remembers. \u201cI\u2019d find more of a steady groove in a lot of his songs. Grace was really interesting; she\u2019d write a lot of her songs on the piano, and she\u2019d use very interesting voicings. So that opened up another area of my imagination. And of course Jorma and I, because of our appreciation for playing together, we found a very cohesive combination. And then later on we developed that with Hot Tuna.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though there have been a number of new and archival Hot Tuna live albums, Steady As She Goes<\/em> is the band\u2019s first studio record in more than twenty years. \u201cI think the timing is finally right,\u201d Jack says. \u201cWe\u2019ve had different people play with us over the years, but \u2013 from my point of view \u2013 when Skoota started playing with us a couple of years ago, I felt like I could finally move to the next level, creating good rhythm tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the fact that Jack and Jorma have stayed very busy in the interim. \u201cJorma and I have been playing constantly for the last twenty years as Hot Tuna. That, together with our teaching at the Fur Peace Ranch, let us know that there was something better ahead.\u201d They were patient, waiting until the time was right, rather than \u201cjumping into a studio a few years ago.\u201d He admits that \u201cboth of us were really holding off; we didn\u2019t have anything really new to say. But after a period of development \u2013 of teaching, and taking the time to assemble the right cast of characters \u2013 the timing was right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of those archival live releases, in 2010 Collectors\u2019 Choice put out a whole bunch of albums featuring Jack and Jorma. In addition to the four live Jefferson Airplane sets<\/a>, the label released Live<\/em> at New Orleans House<\/em><\/a>, a set dating from the very beginning of the band\u2019s history. \u201cI have some different views about this,\u201d Jack says. \u201cSometimes I listen to that, and I think, \u2018Boy, if I played that now, I\u2019d play a lot less<\/em>.\u2019 But, on the other hand, I can really hear how young and aggressive we were about working on something new for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack notes that in 1969, \u201cThere certainly weren\u2019t many other guitar-and-bass duos. And most guitarists played in a linear fashion. They\u2019d either play a melody line, or rhythm. Jorma\u2019s playing certainly freed up my approach on the bass. With the thumb keeping the rhythm, the bass line along with the guitar were kind of like the two hands on a piano.\u201d That freed Jack up to \u201cmove the bass into a different world — move the melody line \u2013 without the wind falling out of the song.\u201d He notes that, \u201cas young as we were, we still kept our direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThough it didn\u2019t bring on any great record sales,\u201d Jack wryly observes about the early string of shows, \u201cit did begin to work on our loyal fan base. And that has passed through generations.\u201d That thought lead Jack to reminisce even farther back. \u201cWhen I was a kid — twelve, thirteen, fourteen \u2013 my father belonged to the American Jazz Society. I used to listen to all these jazz players from 20s and 30s. And I always enjoyed those small combos’ close interplay. This was done twenty, thirty years before my time; it was the fifties when I was listening to this stuff. To me, it was perfectly normal to listen to that, and to wonder about that other world. I listened to Jelly Roll Morton<\/strong> songs about New Orleans\u2019 Storyville.\u201d Jack mentions other artists \u2013 Bix Beiderbecke<\/strong>, Eddie Condon<\/strong> \u2013 and recalls that their music \u201cstruck right through me. And at the same time, I could listen to rockabilly, rhythm and blues, all kinds of other stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of that music, he says, \u201chas profoundly affected me. In the back of my mind, it\u2019s influenced where I always wanted to go with Jorma. Those early recordings sound to me like the beginning of the journey that I\u2019m still on,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Follow \u201cthe_musoscribe\u201d on Twitter<\/a> and get notified
\nwhen new features, reviews and essays are published.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One The bridging of styles between rock, blues and country is something that Hot Tuna has been about since the very beginning. Nobody called it Americana in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview","cat-41-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}