About
Peter Kaukonen (born Benson Lee Kaukonen on 23 September 1945) is an American guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the younger brother of Jorma Kaukonen from Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. Peter Kaukonen has played, toured, and recorded with Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna, Johnny Winter, Link Wray, Terry Allen, Ruthann Friedman (author of "Windy"), as well as his own band, Black Kangaroo.
Read more
Kaukonen plays both acoustic and electric guitars, acoustic and electric bass, mandolin, bouzouki, lap steel guitar and piano. His influences are Chicago and Delta blues, fingerpicking guitar, New Age-style acoustic music, rock and roll, jazz and classical music.
Kaukonen's songwriting spans 40 years—from early power trio songs written for Black Kangaroo and covered by Jefferson Airplane to instrumental compositions. He attended Stanford University.
Discography
Albums
Links
Official
Sibling
Identifiers
- MusicBrainz
- 3ee28179-b18b-4e9d-aafa-8c4715bccd38
Data from MusicBrainz, saved 7 Nov 2026. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, covers from the Cover Art Archive and Apple Music.