Celebrating 50 Years of Their Debut Studio Album. Featuring: Jack Casady, Jorma Kaukonen, Papa John Creach, Sammy Piazza. Includes: “WATER SONG” & “HIGHWAY SONG” Featuring David Crosby. (Original RD: February 1972) Indie Exclusive 30 days.

The exploration of psychedelic depths did not appear to suffice the founders of Jefferson Airplane – Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady – when searching for their musical salvation. So why not amalgamate their hippy-like lifestyle and folksy music with the formation of a second band called Hot Tuna, emotional yet not so synthetically hotted-up?

Even in the very first number, “True Religion,” whose airy, bubbling folksy finger-picking soars up into powerful waves of rock, the message of their third album and first studio offering Burgers, which was originally issued in 1972, comes over loud and clear. Growling bass melodies and the representation of a life on the road (“Keep On Truckin'”) conjure up a down-to-earth country feeling, with an off-key fiddle tune (“Let Us Get Together Right Down Here”) accentuating the rough yet cordial get-together. The purely instrumental “Water Song” is a stroke of genius – this humming, buzzing guitar mix doesn’t only demonstrate the players’ instrumental dexterity but also their keen sense of melody and ear for sound coloring.