Guitarist John Hurlbut discovered fresh listeners for his work only after beginning to collaborate with a longtime idol. Long based in Ohio and devoted to both vintage psychedelic rock and acoustic roots music, he had already spent decades performing before gaining wider notice through his partnership with Jorma Kaukonen, the former Jefferson Airplane guitarist and Hot Tuna founder. In their duo sets Hurlbut supplies rhythm behind Kaukonen’s leads, delivering straightforward yet expressive lines that leave room for Kaukonen’s flourishes while his warm, slightly weather-beaten voice brings rock and folk standards to life. The pair had already been appearing together in both live and streamed shows when they issued their debut joint recording, 2021’s The River Flows.
Before stepping onto stages himself, Hurlbut was simply an enthusiast of the San Francisco psychedelic scene of the 1960s, with particular affection for Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead; he claims to have caught the latter on 250 occasions. Once he began playing guitar he performed with two Ohio bands, the Swimmers and Cowboy Angels, and also worked alongside various folk and bluegrass ensembles. When Kaukonen relocated to Pomeroy, Ohio—a modest community in the southern part of the Buckeye State—he established the Fur Peace Ranch, a complex that houses a performance venue, a restaurant, a museum of psychedelic poster art, and a learning center offering guitar workshops. Hurlbut joined the staff as manager, overseeing events, booking shows, and teaching lessons. Kaukonen eventually asked him to sit in, and when the COVID-19 pandemic closed the venue to in-person audiences in March 2020, Kaukonen launched a weekly series of webcasts titled “Quarantine Concerts,” with Hurlbut serving as his regular accompanist. The intimate two-man acoustic format appealed to both musicians, prompting them to capture it on tape inside one of the ranch’s performance spaces. Released in November 2020, The River Flows contains eight acoustic selections and proved popular enough to warrant a follow-up, The River Flows, Vol. 2, issued in July 2021.
