Jorma Kaukonen (later of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna) met a singer named Janis Joplin at a hootenanny in San Jose, California, in the fall of 1962. Over the following years, Janis would call on Jorma to accompany her at gigs.

As they continued to play together, the Bay Area was changing musically and developing into the legendary San Francisco scene to which both Janis and Jorma would be integral.

During a rehearsal for a show in North Beach, Jorma started his reel-to-reel machine to capture what they were working on. For decades, this recording was the stuff of legend, with inferior, multi-generational transfers making their way through select collector’s circles.

Now, for the very first time, it is available officially, with the blessing and cooperation of both the Janis Joplin Estate and Jorma Kaukonen.

The Legendary Typewriter Tape: 6/25/64 Jorma’s House contains this legendary recording, featuring Restoration and Mastering from acclaimed, Grammy®-winner Michael Graves.

The tracks include Joplin on vocals, Kaukonen on guitar, and Jorma’s wife Margareta typing away intermittently in the background. This may have just been a rehearsal, but it is so much more.

Featuring Joplin originals, as well as blues classics, The Legendary Typewriter Tape (releasing November 4th, 2022 via Omnivore Recordings) is an intimate glimpse into two major artists at the beginnings of what would become highly influential careers.

As Jorma himself says in his liner notes: “This is indeed a window into a simpler time when the music truly was everything.”

1. “ARE WE TAPING NOW?” (dialog)
2. TROUBLE IN MIND
3. LONG BLACK TRAIN
4. KANSAS CITY BLUES
5. HESITATION BLUES
6. NOBODY KNOWS YOU WHEN YOU’RE DOWN AND OUT
7. “HOW ‘BOUT THIS?” (dialog)
8. DADDY, DADDY, DADDY

This beautifully resonant, flashback of a time less cluttered, work of unearthed musical art, actually first opens on some dialog between the two on a .46 second “ARE WE TAPING NOW?” before we get the first real track, the twanging of bluesy guitar and soulful vocals on TROUBLE IN MIND which is backed by the deeply rooted vocalization within LONG BLACK TRAIN, the upbeat, playful and foot-tapping KANSAS CITY BLUES and then we are brought forth the more stoically-cultivated, almost shyly played HESITATION BLUES.

Along next is the smooth, yet gently funky blues within NOBODY KNOWS YOU WHEN YOU’RE DOWN AND OUT and then we get some more dialog between the two stars, including an introduction to Ms. Janis Joplin in the form of the .60 second “HOW ‘BOUT THIS?” before the recording rounds out with the down and righteously dirty blues of DADDY, DADDY, DADDY.

In closing, enjoy being a fly on the wall and revel in the magic of The Legendary Typewriter Tape!

Official Purchase Link