Blue Country Heart
Jorma Kaukonen's new CD, "Blue Country Heart", (Columbia Records) is warm, passionate and extremely enjoyable. Jorma's numerous fans (as well as newcomers) will find this CD essential listening. Jorma's gentle vocals and acoustic finger-picking guitar are right up front in the mix and the guest musicians who contribute dobro, mandolin, fiddle & banjo add a superb dimension. The old-timey songs swing, and are guaranteed to keep you grooving. Jorma, a legendary guitarist and member of the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, was a founding member of Jefferson Airplane. The Airplane ascended to the Top of the Charts in 1967 (with Grace Slick's vocals) on the hit singles Somebody To Love and White Rabbit. Jefferson Airplane performed celebrated concerts at the Fillmore East (NY) and Fillmore West (SF), played on the Ed Sullivan show and were on the cover of Life Magazine in 1968. Jefferson Airplane, before mutating into Jefferson Starship, played all the major concert events of the 1960's, including: Monterey Pop Festival, Woodstock (1969) and Altamont. Jorma left the Airplane in 1972 to pursue a more roots/blues-based form of music with "Hot Tuna" and also began a career as a solo performer. On "Blue Country Heart", Jorma Kaukonen shines on 13 "old timey" songs, including "Just Because", which was made famous by Elvis Presley in 1955 on the Sun Records Sessions. The opening song, "Blue Railroad Train", was originally recorded by The Delmore Brothers, who are one of the architects of early blues and rock. "Blue Country Heart" was recorded in Nashville in the Spring of 2002. All the songs were recorded live (no overdubs) and many selections feature mandolinist Sam Bush, dobro player Jerry Douglas, and banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck Jorma is a master at fusing country and bluegrass with his own traditional acoustic guitar style, which makes for a delightful "down-home" listening experience.
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