Dec 14

Hot Tuna

HOT TUNA

 
Hot Tuna  is an American blues rock band formed by bassist Jack Casady and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen as a spin-off of Jefferson Airplane.  It plays acoustic and electric versions of original and traditional blues songs.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
Another man who stands out in my memory is Papa John Creach, who played electric violin – an instrument that I had never heard of previously – for Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna beginning in 1970; he also stuck it out with Jefferson Starship through the Red Octopus album.  He provided an added dimension to these 1960’s stalwarts, and the presence of that gray hair in the midst of the much younger musicians in the two bands made it clear that you didn’t have to be a kid to rock out.
 
(August 2011)
 
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Pete Sears of the Sons of Fred moved to San Francisco after he was asked to be a founding member of Jefferson Starship as bass guitarist and keyboardist.  Sears played with the band from 1974 to 1984 and was also on the debut album by Starship, Knee Deep in the Hoopla (1985).  As of 2014, Sears sometimes appears as a guest musician at Jefferson Starship concerts.  Pete Sears also played with Hot Tuna from 1992 to 2001. 

 

(March 2014/2)

 
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Jefferson Airplane continued issuing hit albums through the end of the 1960’s but was beginning to run out of steam, so its members began spreading out and working on solo albums and side projects.  When Grace Slick was recovering from throat surgery, Hot Tuna was founded and had a oft-changing line-up of various members of the Airplane and others.  Electric violinist Papa John Creach joined Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna at the same time.  

 

(June 2014)

 

Last edited: March 22, 2021