Topic: Jorma Kaukonen and Barry Mitterhoff

[Michael Kuehn]

I saw Jorma Kaukonen and Barry Mitterhoff at a small theater on Lakeland College campus here in SE Wisconsin on Thursday evening, so I thought I would just offer a few comments on the concert.

The duo played for nearly two hours, peppering the song selection with many classic blues numbers from the Hot Tuna repertoire like How Long Blues, Know You Rider, Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning, and Hesitation Blues. They did a powerful rendition of Jorma's own Mann's Fate, Uncle Sam's Blues, and a nice arrangement of Blake's That Will Never Happen No More. Throw in a nice version of Come Back Baby, 99 Year Blues, River of Time (Jorma's own), and many others. Jorma's arrangements of these old tunes is always interesting and inventive -- he doesn't copy the original masters. Though he plays with metal fingerpicks, his style is a real hybrid of Piedmont picking and flatpicking, which often gives his blues tunes a bluegrass tinge.

Jorma has an new album out, Blue Country Heart, where he plays with a group of some great session musicians in Nashville. From this album, they played Blue Railroad Train, Just Because, Red River Blues, and What Are They Doing in Heaven Today. One of my favorites of the evening, though it's hard to choose as they were all great, was an old hokum tune by Thomas "Georgia Tom" Dorsey, Terrible Operation Blues, with Barry on ukelele. If truth be told, Barry Mitterhoff nearly stole the show -- he is a master on the mandolin, and was simply amazing. If you see this duo coming to your town, you'd be well served to check them out. A very entertaining evening.

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Mike

[Rivers]

Mike, Jorma and his gang have since put out another record, River Of Time. It's very good IMO, I stole a couple of ideas from it, particularly a nice take on the old 8 bar blues in E, Trouble In Mind. If you like Blue Country Heart you will like River Of Time, it's in a similar vein.

Barry Mitterhof is a very nice guy. When HT played the Cactus Cafe in Austin we chatted with him outside after the show. He even ran upstairs and got Cheryl's Hot Tuna poster autographed by the boys. Jorma and Jack's recordings turned me on to a lot of music when I was at an impressionable age and I still enjoy listening to JK's fingerpicking and chordal technique. He does have great timing.

[Michael Kuehn]

Thanks for the clarification. I just looked up the discography -- I thought Blue Country Heart was the new CD. Doh! I guess I've been out of touch with Jorma's solo stuff these days. I'll check out 'River of Time.' 'Trouble In Mind' is one of my all time favotire tunes. Well, that error aside, it was a great night of music.

[Bill Roggensack]

Blue Country Heart is definitely an excellent recording - it received a Grammy nomination in 2003. Jorma and Barry did concert here last year, and it was superb. You are correct to suggest that Barry's playing steals the show - and they clearly enjoy playing together. I felt a whole lot better about my poor memory for lyrics seeing Jorma with his big binder perched on a Manhasset stand directly in front of him. He would flip through between songs, deciding (at random?) what to play next. BTW - he has another solo acoustic album in between the two mentioned above; it's called Stars in My Crown.

[Rivers]

Bill, do you have "Stars...", if so care would you care to give a quick review? I haven't heard it. I'm n-n-n-nervous about overtly 'born again' records.

[Bill Roggensack]

Yes, I have a copy. My rare postings these days betray extreme business, which I hope will soon make way for more pleasant pastimes. But I digress. I have not listened to Stars In My Crown for some time, but will put it in the rotation, give it a spin, and report back here. My recollection is that it has some bright spots, but doesn't hold a candle to Blue Country Heart. More on this in a few days. 

[Stuart]

This is a live set from around the time that "Blue Country Heart" was released:

http://theultimatebootlegexperience3.blogspot.com/search/label/Jorma%20Kaukonen

[Mike Billo]

 
        I too, have an aversion to overtly, "born again" albums
        In my opinion, "Stars In My Crown" is a very tedious listen.
        Falls into the category of something I wanted to like (Because I appreciate Jorma's playing so much), but just couldn't get interested in. A real "yawn"

        I ended up trading it in at a local store.