The Volcano Brothers album 2026: Light of the Hilo Moon
The Volcano Brothers
Light of the Hilo Moon
September 25, 2026
Light of the Hilo Moon
September 25, 2026
Tracklist :
Honolulu Bound / Feelin' No Pain / An Orange Grove In California / Swingin' In A Hammock / Hawaiian Capers / Stompin' The Uke / Beautiful / Fascinatin' Rhythm / Kewalo Chimes / Kulaniapia Waltz / Honolulu How Do You Do? / My Puako Paradise
The Volcano Brothers are a Nashville-based band devoted to the sizzling, jazz-fueled sounds of Hawaiian music from the 1920s and ’30s, the era when steel guitars ruled the airwaves, island musicians became international celebrities, and hot swing rhythms swept across the mainland. Born when Steve Dawson and Fats Kaplin discovered a shared, slightly obsessive love for early Hawaiian music, a style they were pretty sure no one else on earth still cared about, the group set out to bring this vibrant, long-overlooked sound back to life.
Their debut album, Light of the Hilo Moon, is a warm, swinging celebration of the golden-era Hawaiian music that first captured their imagination, played with the kind of ease, humor, and musical chemistry that only comes from a lifetime onstage.
The record features Steve Dawson on National tricone lap steel and weissenborn, Fats Kaplin on ukulele and fiddle, Richard Bennett on ukulele, Dave Jacques on upright bass, and Andy Reiss on archtop guitar. Dawson is one of the most acclaimed guitarists and producers from Canada. Jacques spent almost three decades holding down the low end for John Prine, while Bennett’s storied career includes years with Neil Diamond, an ongoing role in Mark Knopfler’s band, and producing classics like Steve Earle’s Guitar Town. He is also an obsessive collector of vintage Hawaiian records and instruments. Kaplin has logged serious miles with John Prine as well, while bringing his multi-instrumental magic to projects with Jack White, Mitski, and countless adventurous artists. Reiss has worked with Marty Stuart and Vince Gill and has been a member of Nashville’s celebrated Western swing supergroup The Time Jumpers for over 20 years. Frequent collaborator Jim Hoke adds clarinet and horn work on several tracks and in live performances, bringing a splash of New Orleans-style swagger to the band’s vintage Hawaiian sound.
Recorded over three days at Dawson’s Henhouse Studio in Nashville, Light of the Hilo Moon was captured entirely live off the floor, with no headphones or isolation booths, just five to six musicians gathered in a room, listening hard and playing together the old-fashioned way. To honor the spirit of the era, the sessions were recorded exclusively with ribbon microphones and mixed completely in monophonic sound, embracing the punch, clarity, and timeless feel of early island and jazz recordings. Inspired by pioneers like Sol Hoʻopiʻi, King Bennie Nawahi, and Sol K. Bright, the Volcano Brothers celebrate the era when Hawaiian musicians embraced blues, jazz, and popular song, helping fuel a worldwide Hawaiian craze in the late 1920s and ’30s.
The band plays regularly in Nashville, where their joyful blend of vintage Hawaiian swing, deep musicianship, and off-the-beaten-path repertoire has sparked a growing local buzz and a devoted following, honoring the musicians who made steel guitar a worldwide sensation while keeping the spirit playful, swinging, and very much alive.
The vinyl edition of Light of the Hilo Moon is available as a 180-gram 12” LP, signed by the full band, and includes a download code, so you can listen anywhere even though the album won’t be available on streaming services. Order Vinyl here .
A high-resolution digital edition is also available exclusively through Bandcamp here .
Canadian orders: U.S.–Canada vinyl shipping can be expensive. If you’re in Canada and don’t mind waiting, Steve can often mail copies from within Canada during upcoming trips north. Use the regular checkout for immediate shipping, or contact us before ordering to ask about the next Canadian mailing window.
Henk
Q. Very welcome Richard, let's start with the beginning, The Volcano Brothers have a unique name and sound—can you tell the story of how the band came together and how the name was born?
A : The band was formed by Steve Dawson (Hawaiian steel guitar) , Fats Kaplin (ukulele) and Dave Jacques (acoustic bass) based on their mutual love of Hawaiian music of the early 1900s through the early ‘40s.
Fats had to drop out early on to go on a world tour with an artist he did an album with. I was recruited to take Fats’ place on uke. When Fats came back, I didn’t leave.
Q. What songs and style are played by The Volcano Brothers, can we describe it as Pacific Island hot jazz of the 1920's and '30s?
A : That’s a very accurate description. The 1920s found many of the advanced steel players turning to pop and jazz music of the day for influences on their playing and repertoire. We do many of the tunes they recorded. It is all instrumental. While some of what we play is very traditional, we avoid the “corny” stuff.
Q. Can you describe the difference between Fats' style and yours?
A : Fats’ style is very rooted in 1920’s style of uke playing with lots of chord solos and strumming. Mine is somewhere between trad uke playing and guitar playing with much of my solo work played on single strings.
I carry 3 differently tuned ukuleles: a soprano size tuned to D6, a concert size tuned to Db6 and a tenor size tuned to C6. Fats uses only a soprano size tuned to D6.
Q. Richard, the pre-war Hawaiian sounds is very interesting for you, in your collection you have records from Sol Hoopi, Roy Smeck, The Genial Hawaiians, Irene West's Royal Hawaiians and many more, how did you became interested in this graet sound and music?
A : My guitar teacher was a very good Hawaiian steel guitar player as well. I learned how to play rhythm guitar backing him while he played Hawaiian tunes on steel.
So, I learned and developed a deep love for that music as a young teenager. Around that time when I began collecting 78 rpm records, I would buy every Hawaiian 78 I could find. There were still quite a lot of them around in thrift shops back then so I have a good collection of them.
Q. The Volcano Bothers have a rotating cast of top players, how dou you experience that?
A : We’ve settled on the main group of 5: Steve, Dave, Fats, Andy Reiss on guitar and me.
Q. The new album will only be available online. What inspired the decision to go digital-only, and how do you think that changes how fans will experience it?
A : The album is available on vinyl and that was the original intent, vinyl only. Then we decided that it should be made available to those who do not have record players, hence the download. We weren’t interested in giving the music away for nothing so…. no streaming.
Q. Can you share a little behind-the-scenes about the recording process for this album—any unusual moments or creative breakthroughs?
A : We record live sittining in a semi-circle, no headphones like it was a show. We recorded several takes of each song and moved on, didn’t listen to any playbacks.
It was mixed in mono by Steve and really captures the group perfectly. Our friend Jim Hoke did a couple of horn arrangements on two of the the songs.
Q. What's the reason all the songs are recorded in mono?
A : That’s how this music would have been presented on records back then, there was no stereo yet. Mono have wonderful impact that most people are unaware of of have forgotten.
Q. Looking ahead, do you see The Volcano Brothers doing more albums or perhaps live-stream concerts to match the online nature of this release?
A : Hard to say, I don’t want to look into the future too far. At the moment we’re all having a great time being the Volcanos, we’ll see what the future holds when it arrives.
Q. Without giving too much away, can you walk us through a few of the new songs and the stories or ideas behind them?
A : We like to honour the old original recordings however we’re not purists about it, there’s plenty of freedom to allow for our own individual styles and solos to go with it.
Q. Which song do you think best captures the “Volcano Brothers” identity, and why?
A : Not to be vague but within that Hawaiian genre of the period there a lot of different variations and styles. The Volcanos touch on them all and the titles chosen for the album reflect that diversity.
Q. Did you bring in any guest musicians or vocalists for specific songs on the album?
A : As mentioned Jim Hoke guested on a couple and Andy Reiss became part of the group through these recordings.
Q. Are there songs that you imagine will become (our are already) live favorites right away?
A : We play at least once a month at The Vinyl Tap here in Nashville. We’ve built a good following and every song gets a great response.
Q. How many songs did you start with for this project, and how did you narrow them down to the final tracklist?
A : We recorded 18 songs in three afternoons. As we originally wanted this to be on vinyl there’s only room for 12.
Steve made the decision as what to leave off and we all agreed. That said, those that didn’t make it are very good so we see it as already having half of a possible future album already recorded.
Q. Can you introduce each member of The Volcano Brothers and share what they bring to the group’s sound?
A : Fats and myself I’ve already discussed. Steve Dawson play non-pedal, Hawaiian steel guitar, acoustic and electric. Dave Jacques plays acoustic bass and Andy Reiss plays archtop rhythm guitar as well as great solos.
Q. Question about Honolulu Bound. It started probablywith a 1929 recording by King Bennie Nawahi. The Volcano Brothers version is fairly similar at first, and then veers off when they start improvising later in the tune. But the melody of the song, is fairly true to the original. ?
A : As with all of the bands material we remain faithful up to a point then quite naturally through solos they become our own versions
Q. About Feelin' No Pain, this song is a sort of a pop/novelty number back in the day and was recorded in this style by Sol Hoopii's Novelty Trio in 1928. Written by a fellow named Fud Livingston, this tune is sort of a blues, and sort of not. It's got a bunch of Sol's trademark licks in it, and some nice turnaround ideas?
A : Yes to all you’ve mentioned re: Feelin’ No Pain. Fud Livingston was a saxophone, clarinet player, composer and arranger in the ‘20s and ‘30s. He also played with Miff Mole’s band in the ‘20s.
Q. "An Orange Grove in California" is written by Irving Berlin. He wrote this song for a Broadway production in 1922 and it was very popular at the time. Sol Hoʻopiʻi would have heard it and started playing it with his band, and his Novelty Quartet recorded their version in 1933? From which version did your band start?
A : We used the 1933 Sol recording as the basis for our arrangement. Sol Hoopii looms large with the Volcanos. I first began listening to Sol back in the early 1960s through my guitar teacher Forrest Skaggs in Phoenix.
Q. About Swingin' In A Hammock , this track was originally recorded by the Roy Smeck Trio, (not written by them) in 1931 and a pretty slow song. Nice melody and good chord progressions but not the whole band is fan from Roy Smeck, can you explaine that if you want ?
A : It’s sort of a band joke that Steve likes to play up on gigs. Roy Smeck recorded prolifically from the late ‘20s and well into the 1960s. He played ukulele, guitar, banjo and steel guitar. Everyone agrees he was a virtuoso ukulele player, but beyond that I’m not a big fan. That said, Roy Smeck was a big star in his day, particularly on the vaudeville circuit.
Q. Question about Hawaiian Capers, it's steel guitar extravaganza, originally recorded by King Bennie Nawahi in 1929. That's quita a "solo" from you in the middle can you enlight us about that part?
A: It’s really just my version of the melody. Fats and I have different approaches to solos. Fats plays chordal and strumming, whereas I tend to play more single or double string melodies.
Q. Stompin' The Uke, well that's probably about the ukelele, it's a fresh and uptempo tune, with much ukelele in it, where did this come from ?
A : Fats Kaplin wrote this for the group. The tune is a perfect example of his playing style, chordal and melodic.
Q. Beautiful, is written by Harry Carver and also a Roy Smeck recording, any particulair thoughts on this song ?
A : It’s a song that Steve Dawson loved and introduced us to. Beautiful is a regular in The Volcanos shows now.
Q. About Fascinatin' Rhythm, in 2012 it was added to the Library Of Congress National Recording Registry for songs that “are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States. I think it's known for Sol Hoopii's mixing between Hawaiian music and early American Jazz, is that correct and has The Volcano Brothers version also this mix?
A : This is a very well know song if you are of a certain age… a jazz and pop standard. There are hundreds of recordings of this song including the Sol Ho’opi’i version. We baseed our version after his recording.
Q. Kewalo Chimes, Jerry Byrd came up with this nifty arrangement of Kewalo Chimes, playing the whole song with harmonics ("chimes"), a highly precise technique where the player lightly touches the string at specific intervals with one hand while plucking it with the other to create a bell-like, ringing tone. ? Did the Volcano Brothers used the same technique?
A : This is exactly how Steve plays the song. As you noted, it’s a highly precise technique and if you don’t execute it correctly what you end up with is a dead note, nothing. This whole song is played as harmonics and every single note is a land mine. Steve nails it every time.
Q. Kulaniapia Waltz,see the video below.
Q. “Honolulu, How Do You Do?” is a longtime favorite in The Volcano Brothers’ repertoire. Written by Philip L. Phelps, the song was originally recorded in 1934 by Sol K. Bright and His Hollywaiians in Los Angeles. Did you make some changes on this song compared with the original ?
A: As for Honolulu How Do You Do, the original has lyrics and is sung, ours is simply played as an instrumental.
Here's the live version :
Q. My Puako Paradise is atmospheric and a certain sensibility where comes this song from ?
A : Puako was written by our bass player Dave Jacques and is such an original sounding tune. It has very unusual chord changes and I wouldn’t classify it as traditionally Hawaiian but more like “Exotica”. It is one of our favourite songs to play and really sets a wonderful atmosphere.
Recorded live off the floor in glorious Monophonic Sound, musicians on "Light Of The Hilo Moon" are :
Steve Dawson: National tricone, weissenborn, acoustic guitar (on Hawaiian Capers)
Fats Kaplin : ukulele, fiddle
Richard Bennett: ukelele
Dave Jacques: upright bass
Andy Reiss : archtop guitar
Produced, Engineered and Mixed by Steve Dawson at The Henhouse Studio in Nashville
Mastered by Andrew Downton at Railtown Mastering
Design and Layout by John Rummen
Photos by Madison Thorn
Wishing you all the best with the release—this album and the album release show , Henk
Album release show for The Volcano Brothers debut vinyl release "Light of the Hilo Moon" at The 5 Spot Saturday, September 26, 2026.
This will be a full band show (Steve Dawson, Fats Kaplin, Richard Bennett, Andy Reiss, Dave Jacques, Jim Hoke), playing the whole album and inviting some special guests up to perform with the band.
Come get your signed vinyl copy and see a heck of a darn fine show - the album won't be available on any streaming services!
Find tickets here
Approved by Richard Bennett
You can order “ Light of the Hilo Moon” (2026) at Bandcamp here
There’s a great interview with Steven Dawson on Terry David Mulligan’s Mulligan Stew podcast, and it’s a particularly enjoyable listen for fans of Richard Bennett and The Volcano Brothers.
The conversation focuses largely on the Volcano Brothers album, Light of the Hilo Moon, offering some intriguing glimpses of what’s on the album.
Steven shares stories and background from the making of the album, talks about the music and the people involved, and drops a few tantalizing teasers along the way.
But there’s much more here than just a preview of the new record. The interview also opens the door to the history, influences and experiences behind the music, making it a fascinating conversation for anyone interested in the story of The Volcano Brothers and the musicians who have been part of their journey.
Terry David Mulligan is, as always, a wonderful host, allowing the conversation to unfold naturally and giving Steven plenty of room to tell the stories behind the band and the album.
You can find the interview here .
Song by Song - Pt. 1 - Introduction :
Hawaiian Steel Guitar: Song by Song - Ep. 2 - Honolulu Bound (Pt. 1 and 2)
Hawaiian Steel Guitar: Song by Song - Ep. 3 - Feelin' No Pain (Pt. 1 and 2)
Hawaiian Steel Guitar: Song by Song - Ep. 4 - An Orange Grove In California (Pt. 1, 2, 3 and 4)
Hawaiian Steel Guitar: Song by Song - Ep. 5 - Swingin' In A Hammock (Part 1 and 2)
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