Slack & Steel Kaua'i Style Ken Emerson's latest "Slack `n' Steel" effort really surprised me. I knew he had tons of range as an instrumen­talist, but he really came through with some awesome vocal performances and some really interesting compositions. This is the full package, folks. To boot, Ken is joined by some real music industry heavyweights including Todd Rundgren, the Grateful Dead's Bill Kreutzmann, and Charlie Musselwhite. Kauai bass whiz Pancho Graham plays on most of the tracks.

Ken is at ease and himself whether playing classic Sol-style resophonic, or contemporary slack key rhythms, or the blues, and with more than a touch of '60s folk-rock sensibility.

The CD is expertly recorded and packaged; you can hear lots of subtle playing effects and trail-offs on Ken's acoustic steel guitar, which generally has a deep tone, shimmering in the upper register, that is different from what you usually hear. Compare the classic Sol Ho'opi'i sound Ken gets on "Feelin' No Pain" and "Sassy Hula" to what he is gets on the rest of the CD. From what I can gather, he is playing steel using his slack key guitar on a lot of these tracks by lightly placing his bar on the guitar strings, taking care to avoid fret buzz. And he can switch back and forth between slack key mode and steel guitar mode. A really unique sound.

"Miloli`i Slack Key" is a dreamy composition by Ken that features his slack key and acoustic steel and a beautifully written bridge. "Nani Kaua'i" is an example of Ken's unique arrangement of a Hawaiian standard,
reminiscent of the way Gabby would play with a classic. Rock legend Todd Rundgren joins Kenny on vocals.

Ken sings great on "Lei Nani" and shows how he can use the bar and fret with his fingers in the same measure.
"Sand" is beautifully played and recorded. Ken makes it his own with interesting twists at the end. "Small Axe" is a slack key remake of a Bob Marley reggae classic. Ken considers this the "true Jawaiian" sound. Well, we wish all reggae-based Hawaiian music were this Hawaiian sounding. Don't worry. You'll dig it. "0 Akua" is a contemporary tune written by John Lincoln with a plaintiff message about the plight of modern day Hawaiians.

In Santo and Johnny's classic "Sleepwalk," acoustic steel and slack key engage in subtle  conversation trading roles back and forth from lead to backup. You have to hit those harmon­ics perfectly on acoustic steel—electric steel has a lot more sustain—and Kenny does! "Ulili E" features a kind of rolling slack key jangle with a rootsy
Sons of Hawaii kind of feel. Ono! Yet another example of how much musical range Ken has.

"Too Much Kava Kava" is a cool blues tune Ken co-wrote with Charlie Musselwhite, who plays great bluesy harmonica on the track. "E Lei E" is one of my favorite hulas and Ken shines on vocals, steel, and slack key.
"Endless Summer" is an inter­esting Hawaiian treatment of the theme of the hit surf film of the same name.
On the Noble classic "Manuela Boy," check out the ad-lib verses writ­ten and sung by Ken! I like his modern slack key feel on this track.

"Ka Loke De Mi Corezon" is a Ken Emerson composition almost classical in delivery, a tribute to the influence of Portugal on Hawaiian music. A kind of steel guitar sonata... Very nice.

The final track of the CD, "E Kalihiwai," is an awesome Ken Emerson composition about his home district in Kaua'i.  An ethereal explo­ration of textural overlays with a little exotica-meets-60s-folk-rock-psyche­delia.

Well, I tried. You'll have to check it out.

Ken has definitely carved out a niche for himself that is Hawaiian and relevant—that is, not merely retro or nostalgic. He has brought many tradi­tions together to create something new. That's how most great Hawaiian music came about, wasn't it? Major kudos, Kenny. A must-have.

This is a collection of recordings by one of the world's most eminent slack key players [Ken Emerson]. "Slack key" is a term referring to the detuning of the guitar from standard setting to one that results in a harmonic chord, usually G minor, when played open string. We all know what happens when one tunes down: pitch shifts and a more ringing atmosphere arises. Ironically, ethnomusicologists have noted that the guitar was introduced to Hawaiians by Mexican musicians who showed them how to play then left the natives to do with it as they would. What the Hawaiians came up with is inevitably evocative of the slow sultry balm of that most famed island chain on Earth. This particular body of music has been around for about a century but only recorded in the last 50 or so years, with Gabby Pahinui leading the emergent sounds.

Much of the sonority is a fusion of European and Hawaiian elements, particularly regarding hula and its accompanying mele (chant). Though most of the cuts on Slack & Steel are instrumental, Emerson included several in the lazily beautiful mele process. The listener can't help but become ensnared in these lullbye-ish atmospheres, as the two aspects (rich detuned chords and wafting vocals—often with backing parts) are lush and soporific.

The immortal Sleepwalk is presented, a generous fistful of less-known songs classic to the genre, a cover of a Bob Marley tune, and an original or two. Bill Kreutzman, Todd Rundgren, and Charlie Musselwhite sit in on a few tracks, and Emerson has toured with such luminaries as Pablo Cruise, Boz Scaggs, Jackson Browne, and a generous host of others. The cut with Musselwhite, Too Much Kava Kava, demonstrates how easily blues and slack key musics find common ground, sitting side by side, one never yielding way to other, happy and complicit in a natural fusion.

The elastically lazy sound of slack key is its chiefest feature, making ample room for clever play, and Emerson, especially in Feelin' No Pain, introduces tons of humor, a drunken loopiness, and quite a few musical diversions singular in their odd plays on orthodoxy and heterogeneity. Having heard a number of them previous to this, I've never run across a slack key CD so friendly to the ear. While there's very little flash or exhibitions of hyper-complexity, Emerson's gift is a knowing hand that imbues the songs with a glow and deft cleverness unusual to world music, especially that latter trait. Before long, newgrassers are going to lay ear to his work and catch a boatload of inspiration.

Considered one of the all-time TOP 10 covers of a Bob Marley song by a non-reggae artist is Ken Emerson's one-of-a-kind version of "Small Axe". Ken Emerson is a Hawaiian slack key and bottleneck blues guitar player who explores the common threads between each genre and occasionally ties in other genres as well. That's the case here, where he gives a light, jangly touch to a fairly intense song. It's got a nice vintage feel, and, for obvious reasons, has a great island-y feeling.