Yeah… a trip to the D.C. Metro Area and a gig at the Birchmere. It’s been more than a minute or two since I have been to this wonderful stage and it was great to be back. It’s also been about nine months since I got to see my son so that was awesome as well!
Jorma Kaukonen 3, 2021
The Man Alone @
The Birchmere
Alexandria, Virginia
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Whining Boy Blues
Death Don’t Have No Mercy
Great Divide Revisited
Ain’t In No Hurry
Too Many Years
In The Kingdom
Trial By Fire
Hesitation Blues
Broken Highway
Take Your Time
Been So Long
Let Us Get Together Right Down Here
Barbeque King
True Religion
Corners Without Exits
Good Shepherd
Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning
Encore: Water Song
Indeed, it’s still not ‘normal,’ whatever that means these days, but it sure felt good.
Here I am with Gary Oeltze, the proud founder of this great establishment!
Photo by Myron Hart
Back home at the Fur Peace Ranch in time for dinner. A more than awesome venture!
Saturday last was our #34 in our Quarantine Concert Series and a dandy it was.
Jorma Kaukonen 2, 2021
Quarantine Concert Series #34
The Fur Peace Station
Darwin, Ohio
Saturday, January 9, 2021
Ain’t In No Hurry
In The Kingdom
Heart Temporary
There’s A Bright Side Somewhere
Rock Me Baby
Corners Without Exits
Re-Enlistment Blues
Flying Clouds
Stand By Me with John Hurlbut
This Land Is Your Land with John Hurlbut
A Life Well Lived
Yeah, another grand time for us.
Tomorrow I’m leaving for the D.C. Metro area to actually play a show at the Birchmere in Alexandria. I’ve been looking forward to this for a while and I decided I just couldn’t let the shameful events in D.C. last week keep me away today. Got my Covid-19 test today and I’m still negative. Onward indeed.
Today I got together with Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley and we spent three really fun hours co -writing a song together. You’re going to love ‘Pay Someone To Pay My Dues.’ Waiting for the demo…
More will be revealed.
National politics may be depressing, but the music has certainly been sustaining me. On this note, gotta get some sleep. Up to drive to Arlington.
Yeah, so Hurl and I met up in Grandview, Ohio last night at Natalie’s for a live stream together. Even though we have played together so much over the past couple of years this was actually our first ‘gig’ together outside of the Fur Peace Ranch. Natailie’s room in Grandview is a perfect small room for both acoustic and electric music. Jack and I did a show there back in November when Ohio still permitted socially distant audiences and needless to say, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Obviously a show with me and Hurl is a different animal than Jack and myself but even with no audience present, the room was magic. Here is our set list:
Jorma Kaukonen & John Hurlbut #1, 2021
Natalie’s
Grandview, Ohio
January 8, 2021
Ballad Of Easy Rider
People Get Ready
Choices
Kansas City Southern
She Belongs To Me
After Midnite
Sugaree
I Shall Be Released
Borderline
Travelin’
The Old Homestead
All Along The Watchtower
Someone’s Calling
So here it is 2021. I was listening to Jefferson AirplaneWe Can Be Together while I was doing my morning chores and after all these years I have to say, what a track! Sad to say Nicky Hopkins is not still alive to play with. Time spares no one. Now I realize a half a century has passed since this tune was penned and played and some of the thoughts seem sophomoric in the light of history, but as my grandmother Vera said in an interview in 1950, ‘It is not a bad thing to be audacious when you are young!’ Paraphrasing Nana a bit, but it went something like that. The passions of youth are, well, the passions of youth. Anyway, what a great track.
Anyway…
Time is indeed marching on… thank goodness. We’ll be here tonight for #34.
So, tonight, Friday the 8th of January, Hurl and I are heading to Columbus to one of our favorite ‘local’ spots… Natalie’s. The venue is closed to the public, of course. We’re spiking here in Ohio. We were supposed to actually perform a gig there tonight but indeed, we’ll be streaming live.
It’s a Facebook Live gig and I don’t do Facebook so I can’t embed the link here… or rather I couldn’t figure out how to do it. In any case, seven PM tonight. Facebook Live featuring Kaukonen and Hurlbut from Natalie’s in Columbus. Please join us this evening!
PS It’s seven not eight… and on YouTube as well… I stand corrected.
Tomorrow, of course, is #34 of the Quarantine Concert Series.
Last night was my first ‘show’ of 2021 and #33 in our Quarantine Concert Series. It is still our honor and pleasure to bring these shows to all of you out there. As life evolves around us our commitment here at the Fur Peace Ranch is to bring you quality, heartfelt and honest musical entertainment… interspersed with a little window into our lives.
Jorma Kaukonen 1, 2021
Quarantine Concert Series #33
The Fur Peace Station
Darwin, Ohio
Saturday, January 2, 2021
Serpent Of Dreams
Things That Might Have Been
The Terrible Operation
Waiting For A Train
Sea Child
Good Shepherd
Barbeque King
Take Your Time
Big Boss Man with John Hurlbut
Choices with John Hurlbut
Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone with John Hurlbut featuring Izze Kaukonen
Yeah, so I always take my time with the set lists for our weekly show. Fortunately I have a lot tunes to choose from. John Hurlbut always brings some gems to the table but on this night we got to accompany my daughter Izze singing the great Bill Withers tune, ‘Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone.’ As a musician, to be able to share a moment of artistry with one’s kids is beyond awesome. I remember when almost a decade ago my son Zach took it upon himself to learn my tune Been So Long and we got to play it together at the Birchmere in Virginia as well as a couple of other places.
Izze’s interpretation of ‘Ain’t No Sunshine,’ evolved over the last week into a powerful tune. As an artist I look forward to whatever she brings to the table next. As a dad… well, you can imagine.
A fine start to 2021 for the Kaukonens here in Southeast Ohio.
Well, every day is a good day if you’re a canine member of the Kaukonen Family. That said, on this New Year morning we are certainly hoping for better one. Throughout the last year I have been studiously avoiding voicing my opinions about that state of things. I am an opinionated SOB so this has been tough for me, but I believe it is the right decision. Every time I have opened my my mouth and actually listened to what came out I realize I sound exactly like the whiners I decry. I guess I must still be human.
So be it.
As always, family as well as the music sustains me.Vanessa and I are constantly re-evaluating our professional models as reality changes around us. Of course we are hoping for the best as 2021 evolves, but I’m not betting the farm on anything yet.
More will be revealed I’m sure.
It is a rainy winter morning here in Meigs County. I keep telling myself that every day is a day closer to Spring but on a day like this, it is definitely not around the corner, but it will come. Speaking of things that will come, tomorrow will be our first concert in the Quarantine Concert this year and the 33rd in the cosmic scheme of things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfArgNZUPIU
It’s certainly good to have a number of things to look forward to besides just getting up in the morning although that’s high on my list always!
To to walk the Little Guy again with a Happy New Year to all!
We are so touched by the love and affection showed by so many to our family. You know who you are. Our gratitude is boundless!
Tonight we have #32 of our ongoing Quarantine Concert Series.
8 PM Eastern Standard Time. Be there!
This has been a year to remember in a lot of ways and as much as I’d like to, I’m not forgetting anything. All that being said, our extended family (that includes you all) has helped us to carry on, so thanks for that.
I’m going to break here. Boundless thanks to all our friends. See ya later tonight!
I got back from my first road trip in quite a while yesterday. I had four shows at the Vogel in Red Banks and it was indeed a wonderful moment to be able to again do what it is that I have done for so long… play for people. Home last night sheltering in place in our Athens house while I waited for my Coved-19 test today… so far so good.
I’m driving to the auto parts store to get windshield wipers for my truck and Vanessa called me to tell me that Rita Houston from WFUV just passed today. This sad news touched me in a profound way. I had known Rita for many years. Artists such as myself are fortunate to have deejays such as Rita for a friend. We didn’t hang. It wasn’t that kind of a friendship but every time I would see at WFUV or less often at a gig, she was an old friend.
Memory sometimes washes me like smoke from a campfire. It surrounds you in an untouchable, diaphanous kind of way. Some things stick to your clothes and others drift to the next camp site. I am fortunate that most of the people who surround me are younger than me. That forces me to look forward more than backwards although indeed, there is more behind me than there is in front of me.
Old friends pass and the world becomes a little smaller. They can never be replaced. Smaller though the world might seem today, the road ahead is still inviting.
Rita was such a part of my time. She was a beacon in the dark continent of modern media. It seems as if my family is just a little smaller.
There’s sure to be a great play list in heaven today!
I was here in Red Banks, New Jersey last night except for the moments between my shows where I got on the chart feed for a bit. The folks at the Vogel really do it up right and I felt completely safe. Good stuff, more than nice to be able to get out and play.
Jorma Kaukonen 36, 2020
Quarantine Concert Series #30
Live From The Fur Peace Station
Darwin, Ohio
Saturday, December 12, 2020
1. Second Chances
2. Wolves & Lambs
3. Blue Railroad Train
4. Letter to the North Star
5. Walkin’ Blues
6. Borderline with John Hurlbut
7. All Along The Watchtower with John Hurlbut
8. Hamar Promenade
9. I’m Free From The Chain Gang Now
10. Prohibition Blues
11. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning
I’ll do the lists from last night’s show here in Jersey when I finish with the two shows today.
