Jorma Kaukonen

Jorma Kaukonen is an American musician who became famous in the 1960s as a member of the rock band Jefferson Airplane and later played with the group Hot Tuna. Regarded as one of the great rock and roll guitar players, he has had a successful solo career with a series of albums including 'Blue Country Heart', which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album in 2002, and 'Ain't in No Hurry' which went to number 15 on Billboard's Americana/Folk Albums Chart in 2015.

Born in Washington D.C. he began to play music there and moved to San Francisco where he performed with singer Janis Joplin until 1965 when he joined Jefferson Airplane. In 1970, he and bass player Jack Casady started a side project as Hot Tuna. He has pursued a solo career while reuniting occasionally with both bands over the years. His first solo release, 'Quah', came out in 1974 followed by 'Jorma' (1979), 'Barbecue King' (1980) and several more. He performs regularly and in 2018 he performed in electric and acoustic shows with Hot Tuna in Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and Jamaica, and on his own from Illinois to Missouri to Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. In 2018 he also released his autobiography 'Been So Long: My Life and Music'.