JORMA KAUKONEN: Pickin’ & Grinnin’ at Fur Peace Ranch

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After landing his Grammy-nominated album Blue Country Heart in 2002, former Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna guitarist/songwriter Jorma Kaukonen is back with a supernova batch of songs that should win more than just a nomination. Released this past spring, Stars in My Crown is his first with Red House Records and seems destined to be a classic.After landing his Grammy-nominated album Blue Country Heart in 2002, former Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna guitarist/songwriter Jorma Kaukonen is back with a supernova batch of songs that should win more than just a nomination. Released this past spring, Stars in My Crown is his first with Red House Records and seems destined to be a classic.

The album features cover versions of songs by some of Jorma’s influences, like The Rev. Gary Davis and Lightning Hopkins, but also features some originals. For example, “Living in The Moment” came to light while hanging around the living room and back porch of his farm home in Ohio. “Heart Temporary” came as the result of a deep conversation he had with his wife of almost 20 years, Vanessa.

On certain weekends between the months of March and November-when Jorma is not on a solo tour or playing with longtime friend Jack Casady in Hot Tuna-he and notable guitar greats such as Larry Coryell and Steve James are at his Fur Peace Ranch guitar camp teaching their unique style of guitar playing. The sprawling 119-acre ranch is nestled in the green rolling hills of Meigs County, Ohio, where it’s said that the best stuff grown in those parts anymore is good finger-pickin’ guitar players and songwriters.

On the first Saturday in June, American Songwriter was invited down to the ranch during a workshop weekend to absorb the goings on. On that particular weekend there were 38 students enrolled, all from various corners of the country, including Colorado, Vermont, New York and North Carolina.

I sat down with Jorma after a long day of workshop sessions to talk about-among other  topics-his songwriting, his guitar teaching and his new album.

The instrumental you wrote on the album, “Fur Peace Rag.” Where did that come from?

I started working on that six or seven years ago, and it took a while to finish it.

We were on a tour, and there were some chord formations that were tough for me to play when I was a kid…it had become apparent that there was some stuff I wanted to do that [would require me] to learn how to do that. So I wrote the song and used some of these chord formations so I would have to play them. I thought it would be a great teaching vehicle for awhile, and it was, but it ended up as a performance song.

The song “Late Breaking News,” another song you wrote for Stars in My Crown. Where did you get the inspiration for that?

You know, by the time you’re my age, you’ve probably spent some time in therapy, and it’s just like all the stuff that people say…that you say, that other people say. And it just occurred to me that it’s so funny because one of the things [therapists] talk about is, “Look, you’ve got to shut down the committee meetings in your head and get something really done.” And I liked that. I like the metaphor of that. So I started with the chorus of that song, kind of like a fun bouncy thing to play, and then one of the lines popped up: “I got things to do today, people to see, things to say.” I wrote about a dozen verses for it, but no song needs to be that long unless you’re Bob Dylan. So when we recorded it I started to tear it down to some of the lines I thought were the funniest.

What would you say to an aspiring songwriter? What kind of path should they follow to be one?

I’m not a tunesmith. I do write songs, and I’ve written a couple of songs that I think are good, but that’s not the main source of my income. I have friends for whom it is their main source of income, like Jim Lauderdale, a great songwriter. Most of our motivation with songwriting is not to get rich; we do it because we love to do it, and if we’re lucky we get to make money doing it. And both he and I are very lucky. Some hit songs are really stupid, and who knows why they’re hits. But a lot of hit songs are really good. I agree with Jim in that I think the really good ones are songs that when you hear it…there’s just something about it that touches your heart, and you don’t know why.

Are you always thinking of new songs to write?

Probably not as much as I should be, but I try to stay in tune where if something sounds like it’s happening…maybe I’ll make a rough recording of it. Otherwise you may forget it.  I try to keep my ears open, in case I stumble, because I stumble on things more than I craft them. The craft for me comes later, but I’m always collecting ideas and stuff, because at some point within the year we’ll be recording again.

Recently you and your wife Vanessa adopted an 11-month-old girl from China named Izze. Does she inspire you to write?

I’ve been working on a lullaby for her which, strangely enough, will probably be called “Izze’s Lullaby.” And I’ve been thinking about some words, but it may not need words.

I’ve been working on it since before she was here, and what I think I’m going to do is sit down and play it for her and just see if she hates it or not, you know?

How do you think a songwriter in a band should balance the “band thing” and the “songwriter thing” career-wise?

Obviously that’s a personal decision, and I guess the decision you have to make if you find yourself in a successful band is, “Is this really going to impact my happiness and well being?” If you can’t make that decision, and it’s not an easy decision to make, then obviously you have to think about doing something else. When Jack and I quit Jefferson Airplane, things were really starting, pardon the mixed metaphor, “to take off” for us. And I mean, we really had a lot of success. But if you think about the long term scheme of things and how short life really is, who needs the grief? The Airplane did some magical things for me. It has essentially allowed me to be a decently paid folk musician all my life.

Your ranch opened in 1998, and your wife Vanessa said by the end of this year you’ll have had more than 4,200 students pass through the Fur Peace guitar workshops. And some have become your friends. Is that something you think that has a musical connection?

Oh, definitely…absolutely. Music is a great way to dialogue. It’s a great way to make and keep friends. And you know, a lot of the guys come back.  If somebody likes to take workshops with me and they’ve taken a couple with me already, I usually say, “Look, you need to take one with somebody else!” Because there’s a lot of good stuff out there, and it’s certainly not emanating from me. I get to record with different people and I run into people who show me stuff. It’s a constantly evolving process for me, and along the way you make some really great friends…some you might not have ever met in a million years.

What do you think you’re getting across to people the most when they come to the ranch for weekend workshops?

I think what we really get through is just a sense of fellowship and community. It’s really hard to put this in words without it sounding sappy, but, I mean, we’re teaching music and we’re sharing stuff that people want to learn. We have a lot of wonderful instructors, but over the course of a weekend all of these guys and gals…however old they are and wherever they come from…all they have to do when they come here is play music. It’s a nice release from the world, because on Monday when they go home, myself included, we’ll all have other things we have to do.

Any plans for a new Hot Tuna project?

Jack and I have been talking about this for a long time, and I’m always saying next year, next year…and we haven’t done it for a while. But this next year in 2008, Jack and I will have been playing together for 50 years. We are definitely going to do something. We’ve just got to get off our ass and figure out what it is and next year might be the right year for us to do something. We’re playing Bonnaroo this year…

What do you think you would have ended up being or doing for a career, if music hadn’t happened for you the way it has?

That’s a good question. Well, naturally the Airplane propelled me, but I think I would have continued to play. Or I probably would have owned a little guitar store somewhere and played locally…giving guitar lessons.


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