1. Heart Temporary

2. Fur Peace Rag

3. By the Rivers of Babylon

4. Living in the Moment

5. Late Breaking News

6. Come Back Baby

7. Mighty Hard Pleasure

8. No Demon

9. There’s a Table Sitting in Heaven

10. The Man Comes Around

11. A Life Well Lived

12. Will There Be Any Stars in My Crown

13. Preacher Picked the Guitar

14. Will There Be Any Stars in My Crown? [Instrumental]
     

It may seem a long way from the street rags and blues of the late Rev. Gary Davis to the wild and reckless Haight-Ashbury acid-rock of Jefferson Airplane in the late 60s and early 70s. However, Jorma Kaukonen has been there and back.

From his early days accompanying the then-unknown Janis Joplin, Kaukonen started to perfect his guitar-picking skills in the Rev. Gary Davis mould. Having moved into playing lead guitar with the outrageous Airplane, the blues still held sway — witness his rendition of “Uncle Sam’s Blues” at Woodstock. Later, in the Airplane off-shoot, Hot Tuna, Kaukonen moved more and more into the heavy rock blues, so popular in the 1970s.

In more recent years, he has returned once again to the acoustic guitar and the blues, rags, and spirituals of his youth. Stars in my Crown is a magnificent homage to the early country blues, and exhibits Kaukonen’s mastery of the genre.

On some occasions in the past, Jorma Kaukonen’s own songs have teetered perilously on the brink of saccharine-flavoured sentimentality. This tendency still prevails. But this is such a minor quibble given the glory of the music performed by him and his band. In any case, the CD is worth the price just for one song — the old Lightnin’ Hopkins’ standard, “Come Back Baby”, which illustrates Kaukonen’s ability to combine amazing virtuosity with a seemingly easy-going restraint.

He may be in his mid-60s now, but some of us hope Jorma Kaukonen has many more years of fine music-making ahead.

©  Straight Words, 2007