Hawaiian Cowboy

‘‘Ohana’ is the Hawaiian word for ‘family’. And slack key is a form of tuning and playing guitar developed in Hawaii, involving open tunings, strumming patterns and ornamental fingering on the fretboard. This album by a three-year-old San Diego-based group may be said to be more ‘ohana than it is slack key. George Kahumoku Jr, a virtuoso guitarist in the Hawaiian style and an impresario of tradition, makes a brief appearance on the title-track, alongside another guest, ZZ Top’s vocalist and guitarist Billy F Gibbons, but neither Kahumoku nor the group’s two lead guitarists get to showcase much slack key per se. However, there’s plenty of ‘ohana thanks to the Witkin family, with Brian Witkin – co-founder of the ensemble, standard and lap steel guitarist and co-songwriter of several tracks – and three other Witkins on various instruments and vocals. Kamaka Mullen, the other co-founder of Slack Key ’Ohana and principal songwriter, is of Hawaiian descent and speaks and sings the language fluently, serving as the group’s lead vocalist and Hawaiian lyricist, as well as a guitarist. Hawaiian Cowboy does live up to its title in showcasing the kinship between country-and-western and Hawaiian music, perhaps more apparent in the twangy deployment of lap steel and pedal steel (by Rand Anderson) and ukulele (Carol Witkin and guest Brittni Paiva) than in Mullen’s slack key. Kamaka Mullen and Brian Witkin have penned some delightful fusions in this, their second Slack Key ’Ohana album, which also shows their skills in creating sunny, harmonised delights the Beach Boys would have been proud of.