Ace of Cups is an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1967 during the Summer of Love era.

Kaufman had been arrested during the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley,[10] and she was involved with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters (who dubbed her "Mary Microgram").

[12] Hollingworth, who also managed Quicksilver Messenger Service became a paraplegic as a result of an automobile crash near Muir Beach, California in 1967.

When perennial studio musician Nicky Hopkins joined Quicksilver in 1969, it was the first and only band that included him in its performing and recording revenues.

In late June, Jimi Hendrix invited the band to open for him at a free concert in Golden Gate Park.

[14] In London that December, Hendrix told Melody Maker: "I heard some groovy sounds last time in the States, like this girl group, Ace of Cups, who write their own songs and the lead guitarist is hell, really great.

[16] In mid-1968, the band appeared on a local television program, West Pole, along with San Francisco legends Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead.

Consequently, Ace of Cups never made any professional recordings of their own,[19] although in 1969 they contributed vocals to Jefferson Airplane's Volunteers, Mike Bloomfield's It's Not Killing Me, and Nick Gravenites' My Labors.

[7] At the Altamont Speedway Free Festival that December, Kaufman (who had married saxophonist Noel Jewkes and was pregnant) was hit in the head by a full beer bottle.

Nobody knew who threw the bottle, but Ralph J. Gleason wrote, "Hell's Angels played catch with full beer cans all afternoon".

[25] As the decades passed, band members pursued other personal and creative endeavors, occasionally playing music both individually and collectively when opportunities arose.

The album was produced by Dan Shea (Mariah Carey, Santana, Jennifer Lopez), and features contributions from Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna), David Freiberg (Quicksilver Messenger Service), Barry Melton (Country Joe & The Fish), Pete Sears (Jefferson Starship, Rod Stewart, Hot Tuna), David Grisman, Steve Kimock (Zero, RatDog), Terry Haggerty (Sons of Champlin), Norman Mayell (Sopwith Camel), Sid Page and Charlie Musselwhite, as well as lead vocal turns by Bob Weir (Grateful Dead), Taj Mahal, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Peter Coyote.

[28] The album is a collection of 12 songs and stories, produced by Dan Shea (Santana, Mariah Carey, Phil Collins, Bruce Hornsby), and features collaborations with Jackson Browne (who duets on album closer ‘Slowest River’), Sheila E. and the Escovedo Family, Bakithi Kumalo (whose iconic bass-playing was integral to the sound of Paul Simon’s Graceland), jam-band guitar luminary Steve Kimock (Jerry Garcia named him his ‘favorite unknown guitarist’), peace activist and counterculture icon Wavy Gravy, Jack Casady (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna), and David Freiberg (Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane/Starship).