For those unaware, guitarist Jorma Kaukonen is a renaissance man. As co-founder of Jefferson Airplane in the mid-’60s, he was a driving force through the sounds of the Summer of Love and beyond. His side project, Hot Tuna – with Airplane bassist Jack Casady, transitioned from their initial acoustic-based repertoire and became an electric, live powerhouse.

Kaukonen’s 1974 solo release, Quah, pushed his musical boundaries even further. Rolling Stone magazine named him one of their 100 Greatest Guitarists, and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

In Kaukonen’s long and storied career, he has never stopped evolving, creating or recording. His 2002 Blue Country Heart album was nominated for a Best Traditional Folk Album Grammy®.

To celebrate that release, he embarked on a solo tour accompanied by Barry Mitterhoff on mandolin and Cindy Cashdollar on steel guitar. One stop the trio made was at New York’s legendary Bottom Line club in 2003. Now, two decades later, that performance is available as Jorma Kaukonen — Live At The Bottom Line.

Disc 1:
1. Blue Railroad Train
2. Waiting For A Train
3. Re-Enlistment Blues
4. Death Don’t Have No Mercy
5. Do Not Go Gentle
6. I’m Free From The Chain Gang Now
7. Blues Stay Away From Me
8. I’ll Let You Know Before I Leave
9. Red River Blues
10. Living In The Moment

Disc 2:
11. Good Shepherd
12. Uncle Sam Blues
13. Prohibition Blues
14. I Am The Light Of This World
15. Just Because
16. Hesitation Blues

This entertaining, uplifting and dutifully harmonious, newly unearthed live recording opens on the light Americana bounce of Blue Railroad Train and the aching yearn within Waiting For A Train and then they are diligently followed by the melodic drive within Re-Enlistment Blues, the crowd-appreciated Death Don’t Have No Mercy and a beautiful song that Jorma wrote for his dad, Do Not Go Gentle.

Along next is a song that runs at three beats to a measure, the mandolin-hued I’m Free From The Chain Gang Now and the dulcet, low slung ballad Blues Stay Away From Me, and they are in turn backed by the perky I’ll Let You Know Before I Leave, the first disc rounding out on the upbeat and rambunctious Red River Blues and the lovely instrumental Living In The Moment.

The second disc opens on the lushly orchestrated Good Shepherd and the deeply expressive guitar blues of the aptly-titled Uncle Sam Blues, before bringing us one of my own personal favorites, the playful hop-skip of Prohibition Blues, then we get brought forth the spiritual I Am The Light Of This World, the gently frenetic, mandolin-veined Just Because, the whole set coming to a close on the beautifully-crafted Hesitation Blues.

Featuring 16 tracks on 2 CDs and available digitally, Live At The Bottom Line contains songs from Blue Country Heart, Hot Tuna, Quah, Reverend Gary Davis, and more.

Packaging contains new liner notes from drummer (The Mahavishnu Project, Nels Cline, Todd Rundgren), author, and The ProgCast host, Gregg Bendian.

If you weren’t lucky enough to be in New York with Jorma that night in 2003, you can join him there now on Live At The Bottom Line.

Official Purchase Link