Foto by Jorma Kaukonen

Wishbone Ash with Andy Powell fronting Bob Skeat on bass, Joe Crabtree on drums and Mark Abrahams on guitar mesmerized a full house last Saturday at the Fur Peace Ranch. The music was as fresh as it was well… a long time ago. This is heady stuff and Andy and the guys really laid it down for us. Andy invited me up for the encore, a rousing rendition of Jimmy Reed’s ‘Baby What You Want Me To Do?” Always an existential question and always fun to play. Nothing like a slow shuffle.

Thanks guys! We sure hope to have you back sometime!

Foto by Jorma Kaukonen

Spring has finally truly sprung here in Southeast Ohio and I’ve had a chance to get in two motorcycle rides this week. For me, there’s nothing like a good ride to clear the head and put things into perspective. Perhaps I’ll even get in another one before this weekend at the Fur Peace Ranch with me and G.E.Smith.

I know this one is going to be a great hang!

Time for dinner!

Poster by Kevin Morgan

Brother Ray Heads For The Shore
Monday, April 15, 2019

Here at the Fur Peace Ranch we just concluded another amazing weekend with Larry Campbell and myself as teachers and Larry, Teresa, Justin and Jesse as the concert. Well, they dealt me in for the second set and it is always a joy and an honor to hang with these folks. The circumstances the Ranch never ceases to elevate me from my daily world… always; The giving and receiving from friends, old and new sustains us… it really does!

Time moves on relentlessly, inexorably… because that’s what time does. There is no ‘pause’ button, no ‘rewind…’and absolutely no ‘do overs.’ Sometimes one is part of a story greater that oneself and one of these amazing stories in my life involves the Hurlbut family.

Foto by Vanessa Kaukonen

John Hurlbut has been our Ranch Manager for twenty some years but he and Vanessa and I go way back beyond that. I met Johnny in the early 80’s when Kurt promoted a solo Jorma show and Johnny was somehow involved. We became friends, he and I and his brother Pete, and his friend Wally and Jay the Bass player (now long gone) and a host of Columbus characters; some still with us, some on the shore of the River Of Time.

In 1984 I left twenty years of life in San Francisco and hit the road for the East Coast. It was a long-awaited homecoming. I always was an East Coast kid! I would stop off in Cleveland and Ray and Lucy Hurlbut would let me sleep on a couch in their basement as long as I needed to before the next stage of my journey They would tap me on the shoulder in the morning and coffee and breakfast would be waiting.

When Vanessa and I started out thirty-year relationship in 1988 in Key West, Johnny was down visiting his folks who were snowbirding. He stopped by our pad down by the Southernmost Point and as Vanessa was getting to know him she said, ‘I don’t trust him. He’s too nice.’ But that’s just who he was and that’s who the Hurlbut family is. Our daughter Israel carries the name of three strong women. Israel Love Diana Lucy Kaukonen. Love was my mom’s middle name, Diana was Jack’s beloved wife and Lucy was Ray’s other half. She was Mother to John and Pete and Mary Lou.

The Kaukonen’s will never cease loving and respecting the four generations of Hurlbuts we have come to count as friends and family.

After Lucy passed away eight or nine years ago the relationship that Ray and I shared changed. He was no longer John’s dad to me… he was more like an older brother .I embraced his counsel and he always had a relevant view of current events and family. I loved the man dearly… and still do. Time has a relentless way of leveling the playing field. Ray was born in 1921, flew as a radio operator in bombers in the Pacific in WW II. He had a long and productive life! Today at 1640, Ray Hurlbut went home for the last time. Johnny was able to be there and sing songs and then by the Grace of G_d Ray gently left us… like the passing of a tree. He was 98 years old~!

I could go on, but then I would start repeating myself. Nessa and I got to visit him last Wednesday and we were able to swap hugs and stories. He was still sharp as a tack… the Ray I had known for years. For some time, I had graduated from being Johnny’s friend to being Ray’s brother. It was honor I shall not soon forget!

At moments like this, we all say ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’ The real loss would have been if I had never known the man. He was one of my many blessings. Our friend Wally and his wife Cat visited him the other day and Ray told Wally, ‘Tell my brother Jorma I’ll be saving him a seat next to me on the stage… but tell him not to rush.’ That was Ray.

I will miss the man of course, but the honor was mine to have known him and the rest of his family.

Anchors aweigh my brother and as always… fair winds and following seas.

Foto by Vanessa Kaukonen

Foto by Jorma Kaukonen

So a week ago tomorrow Myron and I set out from the Fur Peace Ranch To meet Jack and Phil up in Woodstock to play a gig at Levon’s Midnight Ramble out on Plochman Lane.

Drone shot by Jorma Kaukonen

I had really hoped to get some more Fotos from my bird, but it was just too darn windy. The three gig run with Jack was a great excuse to celebrate his 75th birthday. Sometimes time seems to fly and sometimes it drags on. In any case, life is life and Jack and I are having more fun than ever sharing a journey that started a long time ago for us! up at Levon’s Barn the warmth and love for JC was overflowing!

Foto by Phil Jacobs

Everynight there was a yummy cake for Jack. Fortunately there were lots of people to help him dig in.

Foto by Phji Jacobs

Foto by Jorma Kaukonen

Larry Campbell and Justin Guip dropped by and we added our brothers in arms at the end of the second set.

Hot Tuna 10, 2019
The Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
The Midnight Ramble
Levon’s Barn
Woodstock, New York
Thursday, April 4, 2019

First Set:
1. Too Many Years
2. Serpent Of Dreams
3. How Long Blues
4. Hesitation Blues
5. Day To Day Out The Window Blues
6. Been So Long
7. Living In The Moment
8. Sleep Song
9. Trial By Fire
10. Barbeque King
11. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning

Second Set:
1. Ain’t In No Hurry
2. Second Chances
3. San Francisco Bay Blues
4. Come Back Baby
5. The Terrible Operation
6. Death Don’t Have No Mercy
7. Whining Boy Blues
8. Sea Child
9. Good Shepherd
10. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down & Out with Larry Campbell & Justin Guip
11. Louisiana Blues with Larry and Justin
12. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here with Larry & Justin
13. Trouble In Mind with Larry & Justin
14. Encore: Water Song

Foto by Suzy Perler

Friday morning we saddled up out of Kingston and drove down to Mt. Tabor for a Tabernacle Gig and more cake for Jack!

Foto by Phil Jacobs

Being i Mt. Tabor is a little like a day in Legoland… a Lilliputian adventure!

Foto by Jorma Kaukonen

We had an interview in the historic house next to the green room building. This is really cool stuff.

Foto by Jorma Kaukonen

The spread they give us at the Tabernacle is always off the charts!

Foto by Jorma Kaukonen

Hot Tuna 11, 2019
The Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
The Tabernacle
Mt. Tabor, New Jersey
Friday, April 5, 2019

First Set:
1. Dime For Beer
2. Search My Heart
3. Hesitation Blues
4. Day To Day Out The Window Blues
5. Wolves & Lambs
6. Been So Long
7. Come Back Baby
8. Sea Child
9. Watch The North Wind Rise
10. How Long Blues
11. San Francisco Bay Blues
12. Trouble In Mind

Second Set:
1. Wining Boy Blues
2. I See The Light
3. Brother Can You Spare A Dime?
4. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here
5. Barbeque King
6. Ain’t In No Hurry
7. I Am The Light Of This World
8. Sleep Song
9. Good Shepherd
10. Bar Room Crystal Ball
11. Water Song
12. I Know You Rider
13. Encore: Genesis

Foto by Jorma Kaukonen

It’s hard to beat the Tabernacle in the Good Times category!

Then a dash to Brooklyn and the Murmrr Theater.

Foto by Jorma Kaukonen

Foto by Jorma Kaukonen

Hot Tuna 12, 2019
The Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
Murmrr Theater
17 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn N. Y.
Saturday, April 6, 2019

First Set:
1. True Religion
2. What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?
3. Day To Day Out The Window Blues
4. Hesitation Blues
5. Been So Long
6. Too Many Years
7. Wolves & Lambs
8. Barbeque King
9. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here
10. Trial By Fire
11. Sea Child
12. Trouble In Mind
13. San Francisco Bay Blues

Second Set:
1. Candy Man
2. How Long Blues
3. Serpent Of Dreams
4. River Of Time
5. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down & Out
6. Ain’t In No Hurry
7. That’ll Never Happen No More
8. Sleep Song
9. Good Shepherd
10. The Terrible Operation
11. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning
12. Encore 1: Water Song
13. Encore 2: Embryonic Journey

Nothing like a New York audience… which finds itself distilled in Brooklyn. Really good time had by all!

Sunday on the way home as Jack was winging his way back to L.A. I stopped by my friend Dubi’s place in the mountains for a two set house concert. Big thanks to the Silversteins for the accommodations and hospitality!

Jorma Kaukonen 9, 2019
Jorma Kaukonen Solo
Dubi’s Place
The Poconos, PA
Sunday, April 7, 2019

First Set:
1. True Religion
2. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down & Out
3. Been So Long
4. Barbeque King
5. Ain’t In No Hurry
6. I Am The Light Of This World
7. River Of Time
8. Day To Day Out The Window Blues
9. Sleep Song
10. Watch The North Wind Rise
11. Whining Boy Blues
12. Trouble In Mind

Second Set:
1. Hesitation Blues
2. Wolves And Lambs
3. Too Many Years
4. San Francisco Bay Blues
5. Come Back Baby
6. Brother Can You Spare A Dime?
7. Death Don’t Have No Mercy
8. Sea Child
9. Trial By Fire
10. Good Shepherd
11. Bar Room Crystal Ball
12. Water Song
13. Encore: Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning

Back at home, I could plainly see that Spring had sprung while I was gone!

Foto by Jorma Kaukonen

And this morning…

Foto by Jorma Kaukonen

Yep, back in the swing of things! Getting on the Honey Do’s and driving the kid around.

Onward!