Hot Tuna icons Jorma Kaukonen of finger-picking guitar fame and Jack Casady, guru of bass guitar, join forces with harmonica wizard Charlie Musselwhite, and Grammy-winning bluegrass guitarist/composer Jim Lauderdale. Musselwhite will perform songs from his latest CD, “The Well,” nominated for five 2011 Blues Music Awards, and all team up to shake the rafters of GMU’s Center for the Arts in a family-friendly evening of Hot Tuna Blues. When teenagers Casady and Kaukonen began playing together in Washington during the early 1960s, Casady was already a seasoned local performer. Starting in junior high, he would sneak out at night to the clubs to hear a potpourri of styles, sitting in with the professionals once they discovered his talent. While Kaukonen was in college, Casady perfected his skills.

By the time they reunited in San Francisco in 1965 as members of Jefferson Airplane, Casady had switched to electric bass and Kaukonen had developed the guitar style that sets him apart. The duo founded Hot Tuna by 1970 and began the ride to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along a road paved with blues, jazz, bluegrass and folk.