A Sunday Afternoon With Ken Emerson At The Pono Hawaiian Grill June 21

Born into a musical family, Ken was influenced by his fathers’ extensive record collection of jazz, swing, Hawaiian and world music styles. He played folk and blues songs of the ‘60s, learning right hand fingerstyle techniques that led to his development as a fingerstyle picker. With the San Francisco sound of the ‘60’s Ken immersed into rock and electric blues styles. In 1968 Ken’s family moved to Hawaii. Absorbing the Hawaiian culture, Ken began studying Hawaiian language and music emulating the players of the 1920’s and ‘30s era listening to vintage Hawaiian 78 rpm records, focusing on the steel guitar jazz and blues styles of Sol Ho’opi’i and Sol K. Bright. Soon Ken with his brother Phil as The Emerson Brothers were playing alongside such legendary performers as Gabby Pahinui, Genoa Keawe, Raymond Kane, and Moe Keale.

Ken plays both Hawaiian Slack Key and lap steel guitar switching easily between them during his performance, laying his guitar on his lap and picking up a steel bar for an instrumental interlude. This requires a special finesse and light touch because the slack key guitar has lower action than a dedicated lap steel guitar. He has developed a unique style applying the right hand slack key technique with the steel stylings of the left hand, which he calls “Slack Steel”. He has played his special blend of Blues/Jazz Hawaiian guitar for over 50 years.

He has won the prestigious Kahili Award for perpetuating Hawaiian culture and was a featured artist and composer on the first-ever Grammy Award-winning Best Hawaiian Album. Emerson’s playing is also featured on Donald Fagen’s (Steely Dan) Grammy Award-winning Morph the Cat. Credits also include work with artists Todd Rundgren, Daryl Hall, Donald Fagen, Jackson Brown, Boz Scaggs, Charlie Musselwhite, Taj Mahal, and Elvin Bishop.

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