Dead in Hawaii

There is no shortage of Grateful Dead cover bands stirring up dance floors across the U.S. But for his latest project, Hawaiian-born musician Stephen Inglis seems to be going more for sitting and toe-tapping than grooving and twirling. His latest album, Cut the Dead Some Slack, gives the work of the Dead the traditional Hawaiian slack-key guitar treatment.

The CN&R spoke to Inglis from his home in Honolulu in advance of his upcoming show at KZFR studios (March 19, 6:30 p.m.), where he’ll be joined by singer/guitarist and well-known Dead radio-show host and biographer David Gans.

What led you to this Grateful Dead/slack-key synthesis?

It was a long time coming. I became a ravenous Dead Head at 17, when my older brother turned me on to the Grateful Dead—with some stimulating “sacraments” to go along with the music, of course. I made it to see 14 shows on the West Coast before Garcia died.

As a player, did you start in folk and rock, or with Hawaiian music?

I started with electric guitar. [Actually], going way back, I played classical piano at 5 and took to that really quickly. So, I was kind of a serious little piano player as a kid. Then I was in the Honolulu Boy Choir, but I dropped music for a couple of years until I was 14. I first liked the heavy metal stuff my older brother turned me onto. But once the Grateful Dead came along, I shifted gears and it got me down the rabbit hole of guitar playing. The Dead really struck a chord.

When did the slack-key guitar come into play?

I’d never left home until I moved to the Bay Area when I was 26. I got married and moved to San Francisco, and after being away from home for about a year, a little bout of homesickness kind of sunk in. I grew up with Hawaiian folk music with slack-key and there are some really well-known Hawaiian musicians who were close family friends of mine. It was always around me, but I never truly appreciated it till I left.

How do you explain the style?

Slack-key is a fuller sound because you are “slacked” really low, so sometimes the guitar strings are in the same register as a bass player. Your thumb is playing the bass line and supporting the lower end, and you’re picking the melody on top. It’s a much bigger, fuller sound than if you are on a standard-tuned guitar and just strumming chords and singing.

Do you remember the first Grateful Dead song you picked for this style?

The first one I did solo was actually “Days Between,” one of the last songs Garcia and Robert Hunter wrote; it’s a haunting, beautiful ballad.

And the album itself, and working with Gans?

Blair Jackson was part of the impetus for kickstarting this slack-key Grateful Dead album after being familiar with my slack-key Dylan album as an editor for a guitar magazine. Blair introduced me to Gans after the February [2017] session. I told him about it, he was excited to hear it and interviewed me for his show. At that time, I said, “I like your music and your voice and thought it would be great if you could sing some harmonies on the record.”

What’s the set-up going to be for the KZFR show?

It’s gonna be just the two of us. Rick Anderson, the GM there, set up a broadcast as well as a small 40-seat intimate concert. I’m really looking forward to it. When you play for that small of an audience, you have eye contact with everyone in the room. I played at halftime at the [NFL] Pro Bowl in Hawaii. But It was more nerve-wracking to do my first house concert for 30 people.