Jo Ann Castle was a staple on the Lawrence Welk show. She developed her lightning-fast keyboard skills at the age of five and was just as proficient on the accordion as the piano. Here’s one of her better albums– old Hawaiian standards played with a ragtime flair! Surf guitar rounds out the mix and gives a few of the tracks a slightly rock ‘n roll flavor– my favorites are “Lovely Hula Hands” and “Little Grass Shack.” You can visit Jo Ann’s official website here, and read about her (somewhat tragic) life story here.
Disclaimer: I found this record in very poor condition and even after agressive cleaning (with Windex, no less) and some digital noise reduction, some of the tracks aren’t as clean as the preview below. The music is so much fun, though, that you might not much care.
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Grab it here (about 47Mb)
Summer may be nearly over, but there’s still one more weekend (a long on, at that) to throw that luau…
A great little album of vocal hula music, done in a very traditional style. A couple tracks devolve into kitsch (”Little Brown Gal” is amusingly racist) but most are lovely. Produced by Tommy Kearns, who seems to have been a big name in Hawaiian music, although I can’t find much about him online; maybe some Hawaiian buffs can fill us in. Dig the instructional diagrams on the album’s reverse side. And as always, enjoy!
Listen:
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I originally picked this up thinking it was some weird Latin American Hula fusion record (the back is entirely in Spanish and the record seems to be from Venezula.) Well… no. It’s even weirder: Hawaiian music with a Dixieland sound. And it’s apparently a South American reissue (bootleg?) of an American a British record. Very fun and goofy Hula tunes from guitarist Billy Bell. (A very clean transfer with only minimal surface noise, too!) Enjoy.
Listen:
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