At 75, and after 50 years as a traveling musician, Jorma Kaukonen, the guitarist of Hot Tuna, still gets pumped about the live gig. Like the one he and Hot Tuna bassist Jack Casady are set to play at Nashville’s City Winery on April 20, for one instance.

“Nashville is sort of like the Holy Grail on so many levels,” Jorma (pronounced “YOR-ma”) says, calling from his Fur Peace Ranch in Ohio. “We’re very excited to be doing this. Nashville is an interesting town. I love to visit and it is a Mecca for those of us who don’t live there. Jack is fired up about it as well.”

Hot Tuna’s City Winery gig is listed as an acoustic show, meaning that it’s strictly the twosome of Jorma and Jack onstage. As any Tuna follower knows, Jorma and Jack have been jamming and working together since they were youngsters growing up in Washington, D.C. They became part of Jefferson Airplane, the seminal ’60s San Francisco band where the ardent purist is concerned, and formed Hot Tuna during a hiatus in the Airplane’s touring schedule in 1969—the year the band would famously appear at the now-legendary Woodstock festival. Hot Tuna’s repertoire covers all musical forms from early blues (with Jorma heavily influenced by Rev. Gary Davis) to folk and improvisational rock.

“Most of the gigs we do tend to be acoustic,” Jorma explains. “Jack and I started a trio last year, and we do a full band on some dates. Our acoustic repertoire is much larger.”

Hot Tuna still hits the road with the energy and feels-like-the-first-time drive of young bucks. There are back-to-back nights in different cities on occasion, which allows little time for taking in the sights or visiting old friends.

Jorma counts among his Nashville-based mates Jim Lauderdale, who briefly played with Hot Tuna a few years back, Americana linchpin guitarist Buddy Miller, mandolin whiz Sam Bush and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Jeff Hanna.

“We don’t get to hang as much as we’d like to, and we won’t be able to do that this time at all,” Jorma says, with obvious disappointment. “We have a show the next night, so it’ll be in and out pretty quickly. But Buddy and Jim and some of them keep threatening to show up if I ever play here. So, I guess I ought to be ready.”

Tennessee’s been good to Hot Tuna on the musical landscape. In the world of commerce, that’s a bit of a different escapade. Jorma laughs as he shares a story from the group’s appearance at the Bonnaroo megafest in Manchester, Tenn., a few years back.

“We played there maybe about a decade ago,” Jorma begins. “We got to sit in with Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule and had a wonderful time. Now, you have to remember that Bonnaroo is a huge festival and there are like a half million people or something at any given time.”

At that, Jorma pauses for slight effect before adding, “Now, of course, all of us who are in this line of work have merchandise.” Another brief pause. “So, here’s Bonnaroo with all these people . . . and we sold $179 worth of merchandise,” Jorma remembers, laughing at the memory.

And at least he is laughing.

“I think if everybody there had given me 50 cents, we would have done better than that,” he notes with a slightly sly chuckle. “You just have to laugh at stuff like that. It was a great musical weekend, though.”

What to expect from their City Winery show? “We really draw from everything from the very early ’60s to stuff I was playing before I even joined the Airplane,” Jorma says. He may also throw in a version of “Embryonic Journey,” the bluegrass-meets-psychedelia instrumental from Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow album, along with Hot Tuna favorites “Candy Man,” “Hesitation Blues” and “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning,” plus material from Jorma’s solo efforts.

“I joke that we do everything from the erection to the Resurrection,” Jorma says, letting go a pleasant laugh.

“Normally, we do anywhere from an hour to 75 minutes in the first set and maybe about an hour and a half for the second set, and sometimes longer,” Jorma continues. “It’s hardly worth tuning your guitar for less than that. So, it’s a full show.”

Hot Tuna—Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady—play City Winery on Wednesday night, April 20. For more on the band, visit hottuna.com.