With Steve on National steel guitar and Fats on ukulele, longtime John Prine bassist Dave Jacques stepped up to the plate to round out the trio.
When Fats’ schedule got too intense with touring he was doing, Richard Bennett, also a Hawaiian music junkie, joined the band on ukulele.
Richard has spent years playing guitar for Neil Diamond, Mark Knopfler and many others. Fats later returned from his year-long stint with Mitski and jumped back into the fold creating a 2-uke powerhouse rhythm section. Guests like Dobro legend Rob Ickes and horn virtuoso Jim Hoke often join in on the proceedings.
This is sophisticated string band music played on metal-bodied steel guitars, ukulele, and upright bass that is more akin to the hot jazz of the 1920’s and ‘30’s than what comes to mind when most people think of Hawaiian music today.
The band brings old classics to life with renditions of tunes by the likes of Sol Hoopii, Roy Smeck, King Bennie Nawahi, Jim and Bob (The Genial Hawaiians), Irene West’s Royal Hawaiians, The Kalama Quartet and more. For now, the Volcano Brothers are play regularly around their hometown of Nashville, but who knows what the future may hold...
Check the Tour page the Tour page for upcoming dates. (Volcano Brothers shows are marked accordingly in Steve’s upcoming tour dates)
Want to book the Volcano Brothers for a gig, event or festival?
Feel free to reach out here and let’s make it happen!
Richard Bennett about The Volcano Brothers May 16 2024:
I’ve got myself in a great little Hawaiian trio called Volcano Brothers.
It’s Steve Dawson on steel guitar, Dave Jacques on string bass and I’m playing ukulele.
Hawaiian music of the 1920s and ‘30s was so popular and some astonishing steel guitar virtuosos emerged; Sol Hoopii, Sol K. Bright, Bennie Nawahi, Eddie Bush and others. The best of them incorporated Hawaiian music with jazz of that day and came up with a potent musical cocktail.
I learned how to play rhythm guitar playing this music as my guitar teacher, the afore mentioned Forrest Skaggs, was a great steel player. He’d play Hawaiian tunes on steel and I’d back him with rhythm.
From the time I was 11 or 12 I’ve had these sounds and songs going through my head and when I began collecting 78 rpm records, I hoovered up every Hawaiian record from that era that I could get my hands on.
Steve Dawson is a great multi-instrumentalist who’s taken a deep dive into the genre. He plays a National Tri-Cone acoustic steel, the type that most of the ‘20s players used before the instrument became electrified in the mid-‘30s.
Being well familiar with this stuff, I can tell you that Steve plays it just as it should be; he’s great. Dave Jacques is an old studio pal and also played with John Prine for 24 years or so.
I’ve always wanted to be in a Hawaiian group going back to my old L.A .days. I used to think about getting a little trio or quartet together and finding a small Chinese restaurant or some place that would let us play once a week. Didn’t happen; I wasn’t very good about organising anything and to be fair I was very busy in the studios and with Neil Diamond. But now this has fallen into my lap and I couldn’t be happier. At 72 it’s never too late, in fact it’s probably an asset. We’ve already played a short set to a roomful of hipsters who were there, no doubt, to hear anything but Hawaiian music. I figured they would at best tolerate us or worse, begin throwing stuff and hurling insults. The place went dead quiet when we started the first song then completely mad at the end… absolutely loved it.
Some videoclips :
Some beautiful gig announcements :
Some pictures :
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| You never know who will drop in for a Volcano Brothers show at Urban Cowboy ! We had some Nashville royalty with Emmylou Harris and Chuck Mead in the audience. Jim Hoke joined us on his stellar clarinet, and so great to have Fats Kaplin back with us after his world travels to make up the deadliest ukulele section in Nashville along with our very own Richard Bennett. We also had Wes Langlois Music join us for a few zesty whistle solos. Until next time! |
Steve Dawson interviewed Richard for the Music Makers and Soul Shakers Podcast :
From Steve Dawson :
Guitarist and session ace Richard Bennett joins me on the show this week.
Originally from Phoenix, Richard spent the first big chunk of his career in the 70’s LA studio scene, before moving to Nashville in the 80’s where he’s been a mainstay in studios ever since.
Richard is known as one of the ultimate sidemen and spent 17 years in Neil Diamond’s band, playing on all of his records and tours from ’71 to ’87.
Richard has had another long-term sideman gig playing guitar in Mark Knopfler’s band since '94, and that continues to this day, touring in his band and playing on all of his records, including the latest “One Deep River” from this year.
Aside from those impressive long-term gigs, Richard has played on countless sessions and gigs for artists like Roseanne Cash, Marty Stuart, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, Iris Dement, and Waylon Jennings.
He also loves to write and record his own music, and is constantly working on the next set of tunes to get into the studio to document. His latest is called “Talltale Tunes” and it’s a killer record of great playing, tone and creativity.
Richard is also an in-demand producer and has helmed an impressive list of albums in the last few decades as well. He had a huge role in the Nashville session scene of the 80’s and 90’s that continues to thrive, and I loved getting a chance to hear about that era of Nashville.
I’ve spent the last year playing in a band with Richard called The Volcano Brothers, playing all 1920’s and 30’s Hawaiian music, with Richard playing ukulele.
While we just play tiny local gigs around Nashville with that band, I still get to see and hear Richard’s amazing touch on his instruments, and the dedication and the preparation that he puts into every show, no matter how small!
He’s an incredible musician, an encouraging band-mate, and an inspiring person to be around, and we had a very enjoyable conversation about his history in music and the recording studio. You can get all the latest on Richard at richard-bennett.com - Enjoy my conversation with Richard Bennett!
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