By Greg Olwell With this week’s Throwback Thursday falling on St. Patrick’s Day, it just seemed right to feature a little Irish music. Back at the Portland Uke Fest in 2008, two modern masters, the late John King and James…
By Greg Olwell While most people have probably heard Lyle Ritz, they may not have known it. As an A-list session bassist whose career began in the late-’50s, Ritz racked up thousands of studio sessions, playing on many hits including…
By Greg Olwell Let’s look at some vintage film shot in Hawaii for Aloha Friday. Throughout the ’20s, the mainland US was enthralled with the culture and music of the Hawaiian Islands and this nine-minute film, made by the Ford Motor Company…
BY GREG OLWELL I couldn’t help but notice something odd when violin-maker Andrew Carruthers lead me the backyard his freshly varnished violins and cellos dry in the golden California sun. I saw a large open headstock, like you’d see on an old…
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By Greg Olwell For this week’s Throwback Thursday, we are celebrating the birthday of one of the most famous ukulele players, George Harrison. The Beatles’ guitarist and songwriter was known for many things, including writing some of the catchiest hooks…
By Greg Olwell With the ukulele’s popularity still soaring during the world’s first wave of ukulele love, it’s no surprise that one of the all-time great comedy duos used a uke in one of its famous slapstick romps. For this week’s Throwback Thursday, we…
By Greg Olwell For this week’s Throwback Thursday, I wanted to make a personal post about my first ukulele. After playing guitar for many years, I fell in love with vintage Hawaiian music back in the mid-’90s. Soon after I…
When it comes to lasting beauty and serious mojo, it’s hard to top a vintage harp ukulele. Invented by an innovative, if occasionally questionably skilled, luthier Chris Knutsen, the harp ukulele was a member of his “New Hawaiian Family,” which…
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by Greg Olwell From the time the ukulele first came to the attention of Mainlanders, people found fun and inventive ways to add some ukulele spice to whatever they were playing. Case in point, this clip recorded in 1928, where Eddie Thomas and Carl Scott…
