Country Comfort - We are the Children

No historical account of 1970s Island music would be complete without a chapter on Country Comfort. The group came out of Waimanalo in the early 1970s, and sadly, self-destructed before the decade was over. Before this happened though, they left us with some timeless recordings and helped to change the direction of contemporary Hawaiian music.

Country Comfort performed in English - they developed a different style of local music that was closer to English language acoustic rock than to the ethnic Hawaiian grass roots music of their ancestors. Country Comfort developed their style and sound in the Eastern corner of Oahu. The first night club they performed in was called, “The Sty” - located in the Niu Valley Shopping Center. Theirs was the sound of the time for the Niu Valley, Waimanalo and Rabbit Island.

The group’s original members were Jimmy Freudenberg, Billy Kaui and Chuck Lee. They grew up together - hung out at the beach, surfed and “talked story”. They were the nucleus of the band. Later they were joined by Randy Lorenzo and Eugene Matsumura.

“We Are The Children” was their debut album and contains two of their biggest hits. “Sun Lite Moon Lite” and “Waimanalo Blues” both written by Liko Martin. Martin wrote “Waimanalo Blues” as “Nanakuli Blues” - the group adopted ifs message of alienation and native Hawaiian disenfranchisement and changed the title. Today, both songs are still played daily on the local Hawaiian radio stations - more than twenty years later - enjoying almost the same popularity today as they did in the 1970s.

Although best known for their ballads - two other songs - “Honky Tonk Wines” and “Country Palace” will remind you that the group also recorded music with a lighter message and a heavier beat.
Billy Kaui eventually went solo with a self-titled album that was released shortly before his death in 1978. He was 28 years old and died of a drug related brain hemorrhage. Chuck Lee died a few years later - his death was also drug related. Randy Lorenzo and Eugene Matsumura went on to become part of other successful Island groups. Jimmy Freudenburg was last heard from in the early 1990s when he called up and went on air with his old friend KCCN disc jockey Harry B. Soria, Jr.

Together they played Jimmy’s favorite County Comfort songs and “talked story” on the radio. As far as we know Jimmy’s still living off island in Kauai.

The following are the original liner notes by Mike “Mighty Leader” Hamlin written for “We Are The Children”:
“Every so often I am moved to take the drive over Likelike Highway to the Windward side. As you come out of Wilson tunnel above Kaneohe, you experience those massive volcanic faces of the Koolaus thrusting a thousand feet to the swirls of mist and splashes of sunlight at the peak of another Hawaiian day. It's like no other spot on earth Hawaii’s golden people, steeped in such awesome beauty most of their lives, are writing some of the finest contemporary music in the world. Like this album by Country Comfort. Music that is straight and clean and lyrics that reflect a vision of life that is unique to our Islands.

It’s all here: the human experience, Hawaiian style. Ten slices of what it’s all about. Liko Martin wrote, ‘I lay my life on a silver platter and everyday there is less’. You’ll get the feeling when you get into ‘Sun Lite, Moon Lite’. Chucky Souza was feeling lonely once in one of those ‘Railway Stations’ - you can feel how far it is from Hawaii to London on this one. ‘Waimanalo Blues’ shows the concern of today’s youth in the future of Hawaii. Randy Lorenzo has a lot to say about ladies and love and loss in ‘To Be Lonely’.

Life goes on and so does side two of this sparkling set. Country Comfort lays it on the line in ‘We Are The Children’. Then, they let their instruments do all the talking on a real cooker: ‘Honky Tonk Wines’. If Randy ever decides to stretch out that rock ‘n’ roll riff I hope he invites me by! Hot! The guys even had a dandy special delivery for this package by a songwriting Honolulu mailman, so turn up that ‘Rainy Day Song’.

When Hawaii’s blazing sun begins to slip behind the Koolaus you lay back on the front porch of a funky frame home in Waimanalo. This is it: your ‘Country Palace’. Believe it. It’s all very high... the hang-gliders, the sweet smell of finest elephant tops out in the garden, the gentle acoustic melodies. This is Country Comfort!

One last thing, I hope this album comes out in 8 track... so you can flip on ‘Manha De Carnaval’ featuring the guitar of Chuck Lee. Turn it up to high Q. Open up that Porsche of yours while heading down the Sandy Beach strip to a rendezvous..., you’ll get on Country Comforts wavelength real quick. I welcomed the opportunity to write this. I didn’t have to be coaxed. I just told you why.” Mike Hamlin, KIKI Radio, Honolulu.