Courtesy photo

Saturday, the ever-evolving rock band Jefferson Starship will be performing at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion. Initially begun by guitarist Paul Kanter and lead singer Grace Slick, the band has gone through many eras, from Jefferson Airplane to Starship to what they are currently, Jefferson Starship. Known for top hits like “Jane” and “Count on Me” or “White Rabbit” from Surrealistic Pillow, the rock band has collectively 23 studio albums across the various spin-offs of their band.

The only original bandmate from Jefferson Airplane is David Freiberg, who was a co-writer for “Jane” and is one of the guitarists and vocalists. Percussionist Donny Baldwin was not involved with the original Jefferson Airplane, but he did join the band’s later iteration Starship in the 1980s.

Lead vocalist Cathy Richardson joined the band in 2008 while continuing to provide vocals for Janice Joplin’s Big Brother & The Holding Company band following Joplin’s death. She had loved Jefferson Airplane as a teenager living in Chicago, so joining Jefferson Starship was a monumental moment for her musical career.

And as much as singing Janice Joplin’s parts for Big Brother & The Holding Company was a significant milestone, Richardson felt that she found her true voice with Jefferson Starship. “I’m not trying to be Grace Slick, whereas when I was trying to be Janice I was being a character–I was trying to sound like Janice. In this band, I am using my voice,” she said.

The band is currently on tour and plays songs from their early Jefferson Airplane days, to their 1980s hits to recent songs from their 2020 Mother of the Sun album. “We’ve honed our setlist, so we try to play songs from every era of our fans,” Richardson said.

Richardson has her own self-titled band and co-wrote Jefferson Starship’s most recent album Mother of the Sun with bandmate Jude Gold. The album also contained lyrical contributions from Grace Slick, who left Starship in 1988.

In 2016, Grace Slick asked Richardson to sing for her at the Grammys Salute to Music Legends. Richardson felt tremendously honored to be asked by Slick, who she referred to as “an icon of female rock”.

These days, aside from touring Richardson is working on her own music and has made lyric videos for friends. “I’m generally a creative person. I do stream-of-consciousness journaling, and I’ll go back and look for lyrics,” she said.

Jefferson Starship will continue touring across the country for the rest of the summer and into the fall.