PEL Presents NEM#233: Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna) Is Not Taking This for Granted

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Mark Linsenmayer

Casey, Paskin, Philosophy, Linsenmayer, Society & Culture, Alwan

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 29 June 2025

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This famed finger-style guitarist broke through with Jefferson Airplane's seven albums from 1966-1972, recorded eight with Hot Tuna 1970-1976 (with subsequent reunions by both bands), recorded his first solo album in 1974 and then 10 more from 1981-2025, and has collaborated with John Hurlburt, members of the Grateful Dead, and Janice Joplin.

We discuss "In My Dreams" from Ain't in No Hurry (2015), "Been So Long" from River of Time (2009), "Sleep Song" by Hot Tuna from America's Choice (1975). End song: "Hesitation Blues" from Reno Road: Unreleased Tracks from the 60s (1960). Intro: "Embryonic Journey" from Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow (1967). More at jormakaukonen.com.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to Nakedly Examined Music, a podcast about songs and songwriters.
0:12.8	My name is Mark Linton Meyer.
0:14.4	My guest for episode 232 is Yorma Kaukonen, best known as the lead guitarist for Jefferson Airplane for their seven
0:22.8	albums released between 1966 and 1972. You're right now hearing his song Embryonic Journey
0:29.5	that was put on their second album, The Most Famous Surrealistic Pillow, 1967. Jefferson
0:35.6	Airplane threw a lot of that time also featured Yomra's very old
0:38.7	friend Jack Cassidy on bass, and the two of them formed Hot Tuna during the latter days
0:43.6	of Jefferson Airplane, releasing two albums in the early 70s, and then six more. After the two left
0:49.0	Jefferson Airplane through 1976, Yomra had released his first solo album, Qua, in 1974, but then took up his
0:56.3	solo career in earnest with the dissolution of Hattuna, releasing 10 albums from 1981 through
1:02.4	2015. And there was a Jefferson Airplane Reunion album in 1989. There was a Hot Tuna
1:08.1	reunion album in 1990, and then another one in 2011.
1:12.9	Gorma currently works out of a ranch in Ohio.
1:15.4	He's a music educator.
1:16.7	He plays a lot of solo gigs and gigs as Hot Tuna, both acoustic and sometimes electric.
1:22.3	He often plays out with his old friend John Hurlbut, and they've recorded three albums as a duo in very recent years.
1:28.9	So this brings his total number of studio releases up to somewhere around 32 plus many more live
1:34.6	releases and some collaborations with folks from the Grateful Dead.
1:38.1	There was a recent archive release of recordings he had made in the 60s with Janice Joplin.
1:43.1	You could get all this chronology straight by taking a look at Been So Long, My Life and
1:47.2	Music, his 2018 autobiography.
1:49.8	Today we're going to talk about In My Dreams from his last soul album, 2015's, Ain't in No
	...

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