Tag Archives: Elixir Polyweb

Home Abroad (Slide Guitar, Low Reverb Mix)

Here is a remix of “Home Abroad,” a slide guitar song which was recorded as part of my Awake Again album project.  While revisiting that project and remixing the album (a playlist of the full album is also available on the ‘music’ page), I had two different ideas for how I wanted to approach the mix for this song – basically a ‘wet’ mix which is featured on the remixed album, and a more ‘dry mix’ with a little less reverb that I decided to release here as a bonus track of sorts.  Though the wet mix was a better fit for the album, I also like the directness of the dry mix.  

Straight Ahead Blues (310ce)

Here is another take of “Straight Ahead Blues,” also known as “New Blues,” which was recorded as part of my Awake Again album project.  While revisiting that project and remixing the album (a playlist of the full album is also available on the ‘music’ page), I came across some alternate takes of a couple of songs that I thought it would be fun to publish; this is one of those songs.  At the time I recorded this song, I was listening to the Clapton Unplugged album quite a bit, and experimenting with various blues ideas.  Hope you enjoy.

Ohio River Rag (Alt Take)

Here is another take of “Ohio River Rag,” which was recorded as part of my Awake Again album project.  While revisiting that project and remixing the album (the full album is also available here), I came across some alternate takes of a couple of songs that I thought it would be fun to publish; this is one of those songs.  The Awake Again album featured a good mix of both Hawaiian Ki Ho’alu / slack key and traditional acoustic blues influences, though I tend to think of songs like this as more of a blues number.

Crossing the Field (Original Fingerstyle)

Here’s another take of “Crossing the Field,” a song from my “Awake Again” album.  “Crossing the Field” was recorded as part of a pair of songs (along with its companion song, “Moment in the Sun”) to set the stage for the second half of the album.  Following the dramatic strumming of “Make” that closed the first half of the album, “Moment” & “Field” framed the mellower vibe of the album’s remaining songs.  Hope you enjoy.

 

Meadows Slack Key (912ce)

“Meadows” is a slack key song I wrote during a full moon in Kailua-Kona.  I think the song was influenced by the night air and night sounds – the occasional chirp of geckos, the distant sounds of traffic on Mamalahoa Highway and the waves in the ocean.  Hope you enjoy.  

Meadows

“Meadows” is an original song I wrote during a full moon in Kailua-Kona.  I think the song was influenced by the night air and night sounds – the occasional chirp of geckos, the distant sounds of traffic on Mamalahoa Highway and the waves in the ocean.  This version was probably recorded within a year of when I wrote it.  Hope you enjoy.  

 

Slippery Slack Key (310ce)

Years back I was working on some turnaround ideas when I wrote “Slippery Slack Key.”  Also known as the “Slippery Fish Slack Key,” this is a fast paced and fun to play slack key song that saw various incarnations in my set a few years back.  The slippery runs were inspired in part by the fish in the waters off Kailua-Kona.  Kona’s world famous fishing was also brought to mind frequently by my landlord at the time I wrote this song, a local fish boat captain named Chuck.  Hope you enjoy.     

 

Jewel Ponds

This improvisation is named for the beautiful anchialine ponds you find along the leeward coast of Hawai’i Island.  These ponds are an ultra rare and pristine habitat (please do not bathe in them) that host rare tiny red shrimp – ‘ōpae ‘ula – and can have a magnificent array of turquoise and opaline colors, like jewels.  Some of these ponds are tiny indeed, almost more of a puddle than a pond, and legends tell of ponds that would mysteriously appear to someone only to vanish when visited again.  There can be no denying the strange, quiet magic of Hawai’i’s  anchialine ponds.

Mauna Loa Slack Key

Here is my cover of “Mauna Loa Slack Key,” one of the relatively few surviving original songs from legendary slack key kupuna Fred Punahoa.  Though “Uncle” Fred never made a full album, he did make a notable appearance on the Waimea Music Festival album which features Mauna Loa Slack Key along with another of Fred’s originals, “Punahoa Special.”  Uncle Fred’s legacy also includes fostering amazing Big Island talents of the next generation such as Ledward Ka’apana and Sonny Lim.  Like the Punahoa Special, Mauna Loa Slack Key is an often covered song in the slack key world.  Hope you enjoy.

Recorded in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 10/11/07.