 This week we welcome Keoki Kahumoku and the Aloha Bluegrass Band (or “Pili Grass,” as Keoki calls it) to the Pakele Live! with Tony Solis stage!
A fifth generation slack-key guitarist and six-time Grammy® Award winner, Keoki Kahumoku began performing with his father, George Kahumoku, Jr., and his uncle, Moses Kahumoku, in 1990 at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.
He admits to treating music as a hobby for awhile and says, "I was never really sure how to make a living out of it."
Over the years he has recorded several solo albums, some duets with ʻukulele master Herb Ohta, Jr., and he performed on six of the Grammy®-winning albums in the Hawaiian music category. But performing Hawaiian music also spawned a vision in Keoki, to reach and teach the keiki o ka ʻaina (children of the land) and preserve this rich heritage. He began by teaching ʻukulele, starting with informal lessons, and progressed to ʻukulele and slack key guitar workshops and formal lessons throughout the State of Hawaiʻi and the mainland.
In 2008, Keoki founded the non-profit Center for Hawaiian Music Studies. This organization provides instruments, ‘ukulele building workshops, music and cultural education year-around to island children from ages 4-18, and provides jobs for former students through various fellow non-profit organizations. Scholarships for twenty or more children are also awarded every year for Keoki's annual Kahumoku Hawaiian Music and Lifestyle Workshop through private party donations and corporate funding. It remains Keoki’s life-long passion and mission to perpetuate the teachings to younger generations, to donate instruments and to bring music and Hawaiian education to as many island children as possible.
The “Aloha Bluegrass Band” consists of Danny Booth, K.C. Groves, Katy Rexford, Rion Schmidt and Dave Richey.
Hailing from the Chugach mountains near Anchorage, Alaska, Danny Booth grew up in a thriving bluegrass and country music family and community. His first “gig” was at age 12 with Doug Dillard and Ginger Boatwright at a bluegrass camp concert. Danny plays and teaches bluegrass music for a living, travelling all over the United States and as far as Ireland and France to spread traditional American music. An excellent bass player in bluegrass, rock and swing as well as a remarkable singer, Danny has toured with the Kathy Kallick Band, Laurie Lewis, Spring Creek, Bearfoot, and even performed with Dr. Ralph Stanley. Now residing in Lyons, Colorado, he is the full-time bass player for Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen.
Born in Michigan, K.C. Groves grew up to her father's singing and yodeling, finding her own Americana roots in a Norman and Nancy Blake album during her teens. Since then, the multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter released two solo albums, the first produced by bluegrass legend Charles Sawtelle; and co-founded the acclaimed old-time band Uncle Earl in 2004, which she toured with through 2007. K.C. now calls Colorado's Front Range home. There she co-founded an internet radio project to promote local musicians, and plays locally with several groups including the John Hartford Review Band, country band the Fairlane Club, and the Moody Sisters, an all-female folk group.
Katy Rexford grew up in eastern North Carolina and began playing the violin at age eight. She also played her first fiddle tune that year, beginning a lifelong journey of traditional music exploration, including old time, bluegrass, country blues, Hawaiian, Irish, Cajun, western swing, and more. Based in San Francisco since 2000, Katy co-founded the old-time country band The Burning Embers, and she has been honored to play and tour with Peter Rowan, Michelle Shocked, Boz Scaggs, Del Williams, Poor Man's Whiskey, and more. Katy has been teaching music for nine years, and teaching music in Hawaiʻi for two.
Rion Schmidt was born and raised Alaska, and has playing and singing bluegrass and folk music with his father and sister since he was a young boy. Rion's banjo style reflects the mountain music of Alaska and the Northwest. A multi-instrumentalist and singer, Rion has been teaching music for 13 years, and has instructed music camps for kids and adults in Alaska, Inuvik (Northern Territory Canada), and Hawaiʻi. He has collaborated with Hawaiian musicians on Maui for six years, and shares the Hawaiian people's interest in preserving traditional music styles and values.
Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Dave Richey began playing bluegrass music with his grandfather at the age of 16. Attending college at East Tennessee State University, he honed his picking and singing skills alongside other upcoming young musicians at the school’s well respected bluegrass and old time music program. While proficient on the dobro and flat-top guitar, he also displays great talent as a lead singer and front man. His love of music and traveling has found him crossing the country several times, performing at venues including The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, The Down Home in Johnson City, TN and on renowned shows such as Mountain Stage and E-Town. David makes his home on the front range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains and is earning a reputation for keeping to a true, traditional style of bluegrass and country music.
Please join host Tony Solis in welcoming Keoki and the Aloha Bluegrass Band to the Pakele Live! stage on Thursday, March 22 from 6:30-8:30pm HST at the Willows Restaurant (901 Hausten St., Honolulu). Those who are unable to attend can watch the live stream at www.pakelelive.com. (The show will also be edited for television and shown at a later date on OC16 TV and www.oc16.tv)
Admission is free and all ages are welcome. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. (Doors open at 5:30.) Guests may choose from the full nightly buffet ($34.95) or an a la carte menu available only during the show, with prices ranging from $6 to $16. Happy hour drink specials are also available. Validated valet parking is $3.
Note: If you watch online, don’t forget to email the show at pakele @ lava.net and let us know you’re watching! Mention your name and where you’re located - city, state – or country, if outside the U.S.!
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Keoki Kahumoku & the Aloha Bluegrass Band (Pakele)
Posted - 03/21/2012 : 7:51:14 PM
