I was speaking with Phil Lesh a few weeks back and he said that there might not be another Further Festival. You seemed to have a lot of fun on the Further Festival. And, of course, now there’s ‘And Furthermore,’ Hot Tuna’s live album from the last Further Fest. So you’ve gotten a record out of it. How would you feel if there were no more Further Festivals?

Well, I think that I would miss it, because it certainly is a lot of fun. However, Phil’s issues are different than mine. For us, as Hot Tuna, we just get to go along for the ride and have a good time. For the Dead family, there’s much more pressing issues. I’m not in the inner circle, so I’m not aware of those. But I know that theirs are certainly different than mine. But for me, I’d certainly miss it, because it’s a great gig, you reach a lot of people and you get to hang out with a bunch of your friends for a month and a half. It’s really fun. If it were not to happen, I would surely miss it, but something else will happen.

Well, for instance, you’re playing with Ratdog and Mickey Hart on New Year’s Eve in San Francisco. How do you feel about that?

I think it’s great. And I’m playing with Phil Lesh and Bob Dylan tonight. This is really a treat. I have to tell you that Phil is such a consummate professional, but at the same time, he’s not an autocratic musical director. He knows what he likes, but he gives everybody their head, so to play with him in any of his bands is really a treat. To play on a show with him and Bob Dylan, I can’t even begin to tell ya’.

What’s been the best part?

It’s all been great. We tend to travel before Dylan’s set is over, but we’ve had a chance to see the first half of the set, and it’s just great. The whole thing is great.

Have you gotten to play with Dylan?

No. That’s probably not going to happen. But he really has a terrific band. Phil has played with him on a couple of occasions, but not since I joined the tour. The vibe is great, the music is great. It may not get too much better than this.

Are you happy with ‘And Furthermore’?

Yeah, I think it came out great.

I really love your version of ‘Dupree’s Diamond Blues’ on Phil Lesh & Friends’ new live album, ‘And Love Will See You Through.’ It sounds like you’re having a lot of fun.

It really was. It’s really funny, because I’ve been friends with Jerry (Garcia) and the Dead guys for years, but I’d never really gotten into their music. And ‘Dupree’s Diamond Blues’ sounds like it ought to be a keep-on-truckin’ ragtime thing. Having to learn stuff I wasn’t familiar with before really opened a lot of doors. I had a great time with it. It’s a great song. I wish I wrote that song.

I also like the Rev. Gary Davis covers you do on ‘Love Will See You Through’ (‘I Am the Light of this World’) and on your recent trio outing, ‘Too Many Years…’ (‘Say No to the Devil’). Comment on the influence Davis has had on you and why you love to cover his material so often.

I do love Gary Davis a lot. I’m not a Rev. Gary Davis scholar, but I think there’s no question that his spirit has certainly influenced my voice immensely. I do a bunch of his songs in my own inimitable fashion. I loved the Rev. the first time that I was turned onto him, and I love him no less today. He was a great American artist.

Now Derek Trucks will have been the opening act for Hot Tuna on this most recent tour. You just played with him with Phil Lesh & Friends and this summer when Hot Tuna participated in The Allman Brothers Band’s 30th anniversary tour. Comment on what you think of young Trucks’ playing.

What a great guy he is. He is such a wonderful talent. I told him, ‘I not only wish I played as well as you do when I was your age, I wish I played that well today.’ He just really is great. He’s a fine player, and his head is screwed on so straight. He has such a great attitude. He’s going to be around for the long haul. There’s no question about it.

How did the Allmans shows go this summer? Did you jam with them during their sets?

Oh yeah. They’re jamming fools. Dickey (Betts) asked me up every night. It was really great. And boy, do they play loud.

Tell me about the Fur Peace Ranch Guitar Camp.

I’ve been teaching off and on for many years. My wife and I bought this piece of property out in Southeastern Ohio 10 years ago. We just got to thinking, wouldn’t it be nice? I’d done some stuff with Wavy Gravy and really liked his interactive performing arts camp. Over the years, it just began to coalesce. My wife, Vanessa, and her sister Ginger actually started putting it together three years ago. There’s a lot of stuff I never would have done. I don’t fill out forms well and get permits and do all that kind of stuff, but t hey do. The real hard work was theirs.

And we finally got it together. We’re in our second year. I am just thrilled with it. We really have a lot of fun. It’s a beautiful part of the country. Southeastern Ohio is sort of a forgotten part of the state, because most people think about the flat farm country that’s up north. We’re in the Appalachian foothills. It’s just beautiful and the people are great. There’s a lot of musicians around, and we have some great guests that come. I hope this is going to be a doable thing. It looks like it’s going to be.

How do you like passing on music knowledge with this allstar faculty?

That’s what it’s really all about. The stuff that I know was so freely given to me by so many people. While the Fur Peace Ranch is not free, it certainly is affordable. And we have some wonderful people there who pass on a form of music that is less than mainstream but that a lot of people love. There’s just some wonderful stuff that goes on, and some great players come. Not just the teachers too. We’ve had some great players in the students also. Some of the guys play so well, I’ll say, ‘What are you here for?’ And they’ll say, ‘I’m just trying to get some more mojo.’ And that’s great. That’s what it’s all about.

On ‘Too Many Years,’ this there’s funny photo of your mom holding you at gunpoint while you practice the piano. I’m sure you don’t do that with your students, and, of course, that photo is one of the silly poses that your fun-loving father came up with during your childhood. But you dedicate that album to your mother, Beatrice. How much of an influence did your parents on your music?

They were very influential. My dad played a number of instruments: piano, violin, recorder. My mom played some piano and she sang. There was just a lot of music in the family. When I was a kid, I was encouraged to take piano lessons, which was were that picture is from. I enjoyed it, because I liked the music, but it really wasn’t my instrument. I also played recorder for a while, but when I played guitar, the door opened. I said, ‘Yeah, this is what I want to do.’

When you left the Airplane to do Hot Tuna full time, did you ever think that nearly 30 years later, you’d still be playing to such a young audience. How do you feel about all these young jam fans and jam bands that have gravitated to this rootsy stuff?

I’m not sure I had the long view back then, but I’m absolutely thrilled and flattered that so many people, especially young people, find this interesting after all this time. That’s something you can’t buy. Once again, I think it’s the music, not me. I do it fairly well, but there’s a lot of people out there. I’ve just been so lucky. And I’m glad that people love this stuff. If not, I don’t know what I’d be doing.

With all of this talk of the 21st century and technology and that kind of thing, it must feel pretty good to bring the simple musical foundation of blues, country, folk, gospel and rock full steam ahead.

I’ll tell ya, I love technology too. But that’s just a tool. Ultimately, it’s the man not the machine. Technology is great, but the art comes from the person.

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