When it doesn't fit anywhere else
 #113333  by GuesstimatedProphet
 
Has anyone here ever put together a Hot Tuna tribute, or an act that plays a lot of HT? I've been practicing with a bass player on a lot of Hot Tuna songs and we are starting to look around for places to play (in Northern Virginia and surrounding areas). Our set list will be about half Tuna, a quarter other country blues (Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Boy Fuller, etc.) and a quarter acoustic GD covers. The bass player plays in a GD cover band.

Has anyone tried something like this, and if so, how well did it work, what sort of places did you play, etc.?
 #113339  by Poor Peter
 
Who cares if anyone has ever done this before..Go for it. Sounds like a great idea to me. If you do it well people will dig it.
 #113344  by tcsned
 
We do a handful of Tuna tunes - a lot more of them when we play acoustic. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning, Hesitation Blues, 99 Year Blues, SF Bay Blues, and a couple others. Sounds like an awesome idea - go4it!
 #113413  by easytoslip
 
Poor Peter wrote:Who cares if anyone has ever done this before..Go for it. Sounds like a great idea to me.
agreed! although, my favorite Hot Tuna that I've seen is with acoustic guitar plugged in, and acoustic never goes over as well on a Friday or Saturday night as electric does, IMO. Would hate to see the best part left out, but it is what it is. My original thought was three sets (acoustic to open and two electric, maybe set two all Hot Tuna, set three originals/covers.) Post some vids if you end up doing it and can get someone to video you and upload to youtube or something.

I would think you could do real well in an art-friendly section of a town like New Haven CT on a Tuesday night, maybe try to get a regular weekly thing going? Honestly, I've never even done gigs in a full band (yet), that's all from a spectator perspective.

Sounds cool though.
 #113416  by Tony6Strings
 
At the last student recital at my school, I played "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning" into "Mann's Fate". They go pretty well together as a medley, I started out with Lamps, embellished a bit, made my way into Mann's Fate, jammed on that for a while, and then brought it back to Lamps... I ended the piece with the fast single note descending line from Lamps. As far as fingerstyle goes, Jorma is one of my very favorite players of all time, up there with Mississippi John Hurt and Gary Davis himself. Definitely my favorite out of the people still playing today, with honorable mention to Stefan Grossman.
 #113422  by Poor Peter
 
Tony6Strings wrote:At the last student recital at my school, I played "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning" into "Mann's Fate". They go pretty well together as a medley, I started out with Lamps, embellished a bit, made my way into Mann's Fate, jammed on that for a while, and then brought it back to Lamps... I ended the piece with the fast single note descending line from Lamps. As far as fingerstyle goes, Jorma is one of my very favorite players of all time, up there with Mississippi John Hurt and Gary Davis himself. Definitely my favorite out of the people still playing today, with honorable mention to Stefan Grossman.
Ever hear of Leo Kottke? Check him out, he will blow you away.
 #113457  by jackr
 
Poor Peter wrote: Ever hear of Leo Kottke? Check him out, he will blow you away.
+1 remarkable player
 #117320  by GuesstimatedProphet
 
A follow up from the OP...we have actually played a couple of gigs in the DC Metro area. Here are three clips from a party in Frederick MD. I'll try to post a few more later on...

Hesitation Blues: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qatnLG8H5AY

Search My Hearrt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qyNRb2xEMM

Keep Your Lamps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw0vFPNc ... e=youtu.be
 #117336  by Dwarf Rat
 
Along with the Dead tunes, we play Candyman,Hesitation Blues, Keep yer lamps trimmed, some Ry Cooder, St. James Infirmary, Fixin to die rag, the Viper, Rollin In My Sweet Arms, You Ain't goin nowhere, the older the the better.

We play pubs, restaurants, garden nurseries, neighborhood parties.

We get a great response in spite of our refusal to play classic rock, a single Beatles song, or take any requests at all.

The key to the Hot Tuna tunes is commitment and power. You gotta dig in to make them move!
 #117353  by strumminsix
 
Poor Peter wrote:Who cares if anyone has ever done this before..Go for it.
I agree that you should go for it but be prepared for an uphill battle.

Will likely require considerable more effort finding gigs and extensive marketing to find pockets of appropriate music fans.

Not saying don't do it, but get ready to put in a lot more work in those areas that say the typical cover band.
 #117354  by easytoslip
 
GuesstimatedProphet wrote:A follow up from the OP...we have actually played a couple of gigs in the DC Metro area. Here are three clips from a party in Frederick MD. I'll try to post a few more later on...

Hesitation Blues: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qatnLG8H5AY

Search My Hearrt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qyNRb2xEMM

Keep Your Lamps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw0vFPNc ... e=youtu.be
Love it, thanks for the links!