MMM

[Brother Buzz]

1. Before the bands came to be, there was Jorma Kaukonen and Janis Joplin....

and the mother of all bootlegs, the 1964 'Typewriter Tape'

Jorma Kaukonen on Janis Joplin and Recording the 1964 'Typewriter Tape'
Gabe Meline
May 3, 2016

Of the many Janis Joplin bootlegs out there in the wild, there's one that holds a special importance for diehard fans. The Typewriter Tape, recorded in 1964 with guitarist Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna), captures an early Joplin at a pivotal moment, just after her folk-autoharp phase and just before joining Big Brother & the Holding Company.

The Typewriter Tape would go on to attain mythic status, and, as is the norm for bootlegs, the details of its existence have been distorted over the years. In advance of PBS' broadcast of the documentary Janis: Little Girl Blue, I decided to go to the source: Jorma Kaukonen himself, who spoke to me from his ranch in Ohio about that day in 1964, when his wife was typing a letter in the background and he casually recorded some favorite folk-blues songs with an unknown girl from Texas.

Note: Interview has been edited for length and clarity.

<more> A really, really great read, and we learn how the new resident to California, Kaukonen, met Janis, Jerry Garcia and Pigpen on a fateful evening in San Jose. I assume Jerry Garcia was still in his banjo phase.


https://www.kqed.org/arts/11548325/jorma-kaukonen-on-janis-joplin-and-recording-the-1964-typewriter-tape