Straight out of the musical hotbed of Austin, Texas, comes Steel Betty, an all-acoustic trio of multi-instrumentalists who reflect the crazy quilt of today’s American roots music. Their music is a tasty stew of country and Western, Tex-Mex conjunto, three-part harmony folk and, most prominently, old-timey mountain bluegrass—these guys can totally rip on “Bile ’Em Cabbage Dow.” For this trio, eclecticism, which they call “New Age Old Time,” is the whole point. They’ve just released a new album, So Darn Lonesome, and now they’re ready to take America by storm.Steel Betty
Sat, 7:30pm, $43+
Carriage House Theatre, Saratoga

When mainland music fans think of the Hawaiian islands, they may hear Don Ho’s “Tiny Bubbles,” Israel Kamakawiwoʻole’s famed ukulele arrangement of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” or Bing Crosby’s holiday classic, “Mele Kalikimaka.”

“There’s so much more to Hawaiian music,” says Kale Hannahs, bassist for Waipuna—a Hawaiian-music trio performing at the Carriage House at the Montalvo Arts Center this weekend.

Waipuna—recipient of seven Nā Hōkū Hanohano awards (the Hawaiian version of the Grammys)—explores the connections between popular music and the traditional sounds of their native Pacific Island state. While he readily concedes that Waipuna’s music is accessible to listeners who have little familiarity with its origins, he emphasizes that “it’s not just for enjoyment. Some people might take it on a surface value, but the songs are very deep.”

Hannahs talks about the multiple levels of meaning in songs like “Na Makani ’Eha,” a standout track on Waipuna’s third album, 2013’s Napili. It’s about a song written by the late Hawaiian musical icon, Reverend Dennis Kamakahi, who also happens to be the father of Waipuna’s ukulele-player David Kamakahi.

“It’s about the Four Winds,” Hannahs says.

But it’s really about a relative of the Kamakahi family.

“As his sailing boat would go into each of the different ports, he would try to woo ladies by using the same lines, saying ‘You are the most beautiful girl,’” Hannas explains. While the song is sung in Hawaiian, he believes the mood of the song transcends language.

“We call the underlying meanings of the songs kaona,” he says. “There’s a surface-level meaning, a secondary meaning and there’s a third level of understanding.”

At face value, a Hawaiian song might be about a flower and a bird.

“But the underlying meaning would be that the flower represents a woman, and the bird represents a man,” Hannahs says. “And the third level would be knowing who those people are and what exactly happened to inspire that composition.”

The three members of the group come from varied backgrounds. Hannahs has played Hawaiian music for 25 years, but his foundation is in classical music. Guitarist Matt Sproat is the great-grandnephew of storyteller, musician and NEA National Heritage Fellow Kindy Sproat.

“Matt has an extensive background playing hula music,” Hannahs says, “but he started off playing heavy metal.”

The group plays all over the world, including monthly concert dates in Japan.

“Connecting with audiences over there is just as important as connecting to people on the mainland when we tour,” Hannahs says. “So I’ll mix in a little bit of Japanese here and there, just to help them understand the songs.”

Between-song narration is an important part of a Waipuna concert, providing context for the music and stories.

“Even some Hawaiian listeners don’t understand all of the Hawaiian language,” he notes. “So adding that extra layer of understanding helps our audiences and our friends to get at least half-way there. And that means the world to us.”

Across their five albums, Waipuna weaves together stories from the group’s homeland, sung in both English and Hawaiian. And the trio succeeds at placing each of those stories into a catchy, heartwarming musical context. Hannahs recalls a conversation with bandmate Sproat during the making of Waipuna’s most recent release, their 2019 self-titled album.

“Matt started saying that the music we were working on sounded ‘too typical,’” he recalls. They agreed that they needed to write every song to be a potential hit.

“No clunkers,” Sproat told him.

“You’ll notice that in a lot of our songs, we do key changes and switch off voicings to help build the story—or just the feeling—of the song,” Hannahs says. “We want to take the listener on a journey.”

Waipuna
Feb 13, 7:30pm, $43
Carriage House Theatre

There’s always a lot riding on a band’s second LP. According to conventional industry wisdom, a band has its entire life to hone a debut, but only a year to come up with an even bigger follow-up. And so, when an artist can put out a third set with a handful of iconic singles, as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers did with Damn the Torpedoes, it says something about that group’s staying power. As part of the Classic Albums Live series, the Montalvo Arts Center presents Petty’s 1979 triple-platinum release, performed by a cover band in its entirety.

Damn The Torpedoes
Thu, 7:30pm, $58
Carriage House Theatre, Saratoga

More than a dozen musicians have been members of jazz fusion band the Yellowjackets since the group launched in 1977. But keyboardist and founding member Russell Ferrante says there are common threads woven throughout the band’s ouvre.

“A strong sense of pulse and groove, a balance of structure and spontaneity, a sense of evolution and development, and an optimistic outlook” are all distinctive characteristics of The Yellowjackets’ music, he says. With some pride, he mentions that there is a class at the prestigious Berklee College of Music dedicated to the study of the band’s compositions.

Last September saw the release of Raising Our Voice, The Yellowjackets’ 24th album. And although the players may have changed over the decades, those common threads bind the group’s entire body of work. Ferrante says that the new album represents “who we are, and it reflects our aesthetic sense.” But at the same time, he acknowledges that the band’s character is constantly being refined.

Raising Our Voice revisits some older Yellowjackets tunes. The original version of the opening track, “Man Facing North” appeared on the group’s 1993 album, Like a River. While the ’93 recording focuses on electric bass, this new version places emphasis on impressive interplay between Bob Mintzer’s sax and the wordless vocals of Brazilian jazz singer Luciana Souza.

Souza, who co-wrote two of the album’s tracks with Ferrante, is an integral part of Raising Our Voice. “Luciana’s input was crucial in creating the new versions of previously recorded songs,” Ferrante says.

But most of the music on Raising Our Voice is completely new. “All the [new] music was written prior to going into the recording studio,” Ferrante says, “but we refined and shaped it during the recording process.” Many of the tunes weren’t originally slated to include vocals at all, but once the group entered the studio with Souza, Ferrante says they “excitedly integrated her” into the arrangements.

“She added another melodic voice to the band,” he explains, “allowing us to expand our orchestrational possibilities.”

Each of the four members of The Yellowjackets—Ferrante, saxophonist Bob Mintzer, William Kennedy on drums and bassist Dane Alderson—are involved in projects outside the group.

“Bob writes and records his own quartet and big band music,” Ferrante says. “I compose for and play trio gigs that are entirely acoustic in nature; Will has been playing some more rhythm and blues-oriented gigs on his own; and Dane has a weekly gig in Charlottesville playing a wide variety of music from rock to jazz.”

The group members bring those diverse backgrounds together to create The Yellowjackets’ sound, one that is firmly rooted in the tuneful and accessible end of the jazz spectrum. Raising our Voice explores a number of different textures, from Mintzer’s old-school “Swing With It” to the bop-flavored “Strange Time” to the impressionistic “In Search Of.” The latter makes subtle use of synthesizer, though one has to listen closely to hear it.

“Acoustic piano was my primary voice on this recording,” Ferrante says. “I feel most expressive at the piano, but I still love the way synths can be used to help shape the arrangements.”

The album ventures outside the jazz idiom completely on a pair of brief, minimalist instrumentals—“Emerge” and “Divert”—that are nearly ambient in nature. “Those pieces were primarily Dane’s creations,” Ferrante says. “We hope to continue to explore [that style] and further incorporate the entire band in a more substantive way.”

Over the years, The Yellowjackets have sometimes been pigeonholed as “smooth jazz,” a style that holds little credibility with critics or serious jazz aficionados. Ferrante takes it all in stride. “I acknowledge that some may label our music as ‘smooth jazz,’” he says, “but I think if you really open the hood, there’s a lot more going on than one might initially perceive.”

Part of the issue some take with smooth jazz is its formulaic nature. “I think some of that criticism [of the style] may be justified,” Ferrante concedes. But part of why he doesn’t believe The Yellowjackets fit into the category has to do with the intention behind the music. “We want to make music that will inspire, challenge and last.”

The Yellowjackets
Feb 21, 7:30pm, $62+
Carriage House Theatre, Saratoga