Hawaii
Robert Yates is known as Uncle Uke for a very good reason - he plays, builds, and sells ukuleles. Robert opened his own store, HUG Ukulele, on the big island of Hawaii with his wife Patricia which began as a handmade jewelry store with a few ukes and has evolved into primarily a ukulele store with...
Ledward Kaapana grew up in Hawaii with his twin brother, surrounded by musical passion. His parents, grandparents and several aunts and uncles played and sang, and Ledward can recall his excitement when he was asked to play along with the ukulele. As he grew he played in several local bands and...
Peter Dods was an investment banker on Wall Street on September 11, 2001, which in his words, “uprooted my life and caused me to rethink what I wanted to do.” Having been a music maker himself, Peter returned home to Hawaii where he sought to open his own music store. At that time he learned that...
Martin Denny cornered the market on the musical style of the early 1950s known as exotica. The smooth melody of the songs were enhanced by hundreds of different tropical sounding instruments, jungle noises and the call of birds. Martin began his musical career as a composer and piano playing...
John Decker had the idea of building a guitar without wood, no wood at all. In the era of limited wood supply and growing technology, John experimented with a host of materials before deciding that a very good sounding guitar could be made from graphite. John formed the Rain Song Guitar Company in...