Pickin’ up If the old adage "patience is a virtue" still holds some kernel of truth these days, Cindy Combs is a very virtuous person indeed. Combs made an initial splash on the contemporary Hawaiian music scene during its renaissance of the early 1970s. In fact, she was instrumental in introducing the members of what would be one of the seminal and beloved groups of its time.
the slack
It's been decades since her
debut with Olomana, but Cindy
Combs' solo album comes
better late than neverBy Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.com"I played a bit of slack-key guitar on 'O Malia,'" Combs said of her contribution to the debut album of Olomana, "Like a Seabird in the Wind." "And with 'Ku'u Home O Kahalu'u,' I remember hearing Jerry (Santos) singing it before Olomana was even formed. I later introduced Robert Beaumont to Jerry, and they went on to record 'Ku'u' as Olomana."
As someone who lived in the islands since 1963 and a singer/songwriter herself, Combs said "Jerry was a huge influence on me to go ahead and play Hawaiian music. I remember when I first started, there was this one guy, who I don't want to name, who came up to me and said 'you can't play Hawaiian music!'
"He later apologized to me, but I took it as a metaphor for my life. I feel this is all part of a higher meaning, originally coming here with my family and getting to this place in my life. It's a calling to me, but this still goes on, still being asked 'are you local?'"
Well, that question should prove moot with today's national release of her "Slack Key Lady" debut album on Dancing Cat Records. Culled from recordings as early as six years ago for George Winston's exclusive label for Hawaii's slack-key guitar masters, it's one album that should particularly resonate with a quiet passion for longtime Hawaiian music listeners.
If Cindy Combs' name and music has been out of wide circulation for some time now, it's with good reason. Combs has been a resident of the Garden Isle for 37 years now, still playing her music at a regular Friday night gig at the Hanapepe Cafe, a little vegetarian restaurant, as well as performing Saturdays at Wailua's Coconut Beach Hotel with her partner Michael Barretto. She's also been "The Ukulele Lady" since 1993, her handle as a part-time DJ on KUAI, an AM radio station in Eleele.
Where: 2 p.m. Sunday at Borders Ward Centre, and 4 p.m. Sunday at Borders Waikele Cindy Combs
Admission: Free
Also: 7 p.m. Friday at Borders on Kauai; Borders Hilo at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 21; and Borders Maui at 2 p.m. Sept. 22
But with the release of "Slack Key Lady," Combs said, in a phone interview from her Kauai home last Thursday, she realizes her career will now go on a quicker track.
"It was always George's intention for me to do an entire album from the very beginning. (Combs has had a couple of tracks on the label's previous compilations.) By the time of my second recording session with him, he was looking at a possible release date as early as '96 or '97."
But it wasn't to be and Combs understands the delay of her album's release. "This is George's kuleana, it's his intention to put this music he records in some kind of perspective, have a musical and historical reference point. He was hoping to release this earlier, but what with his previous commitments to the other players of such high caliber and his co-workers at the company, that's how the scheduled day of release ended up to be."
Winston's commitment to what he calls one of our best slack-key players should help buoy plans to follow up on "Slack Key Lady's" release, although Combs admits she's going to have to start up slow and small.
"I'm just starting to do some promotion, although Hawaii is the hardest place to make this go on a regular large scale. With the right promotion, it could be good thing for visitors to enjoy, those who want to find out 'what's this slack-key all about?' so we'll start here and hopefully tour the mainland later."
Combs has already done one concert there, close to the label's home headquarters of Santa Cruz, Calif. "I played to a sold-out crowd there in August, a small club in Santa Cruz hills. Label publicist Ben Churchill helped me promote it on a radio station there I particularly like, one that plays folk-rock/Americana that has gotten on the slack-key bandwagon as well.
"I felt validated there because I had the folks' attention. When people pay to see you, you gotta do good, but I can rise to the occasion and I think I gave them an experience to enjoy and uplift them. They were ready for it because of the groundwork already laid out by George."
But it would be a shame if Combs didn't get any local airplay to help with sales. Her self-composed "Kipu" and "Ke Welina" are grounded in feelings for her adopted home, for the beautiful Kauai ranch where she once lived and her current Kalaheo home, respectively. Combs' best technical performance on the guitar is on "Makani 'Ula'ula," one of six songs she learned from her teacher Keola Beamer back in 1971, in the G6th tuning he taught her that she still plays in, along with the C Wahine tuning.
There's also a beautiful rendition of Olomana's signature "Ku'u Home O Kahalu'u," a very folky take filled with wistful reminiscence, made more poignant with the passage of time since its release three decades ago.
"I feel so proud, a ha'aheo type of proud, about the album," Combs said, "but I'm humbled at the same time, because, out of all these players that I know, I was the one to have this opportunity.
"People are telling me that 'you're in there,' but if anything, it implies more responsibility and more work."
That means making adjustments to her island lifestyle. "The slower pace of life and the land itself is so beautiful and so it's easy to just to put yourself on a country road," she said.
"And it's been a long road to get to the release of this album. I've told people so many times over the years that it was going to come out that I felt like the boy that cried wolf! If nothing else, all this has taught me the virtue of patience."
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