How many of you are aware of Kalai? When it comes to amazing musicians, this guy is one I am listening to more and more. He describes himself as "urban vintage" and says that his main influences were James Taylor (my all-time favorite) and the Beatles. My observation is that there's a lot of very cool jazz going on with him, too.
Man, can this guy sing. His range is incredible and may be explained by his admission that he always used to try to sing every part in a quartet. You've probably heard him on my playlist, but I wanted to give you a more personal glimpse here. This particular video is a private performance. (When he stops in the middle, hang with it. He does finish the song...And it's worth waiting for, too.)
Besides his new release, Crows Feet (Acoustacism is the CD that introduced him to me), Kalai also sings religious/spiritual music. His version of I Need Thee Every Hour (from A Pauper's Hymnal) is unequaled. An interesting note is that he was born in Hawaii, raised in Alaska, managed to become a musical prodigy despite a rocky home life, and is now a convert to the LDS church. (His church membership has no bearing on my enjoyment of his music, by the way. I had him on my iPod for a year before my son told me he was Mormon.)
Enjoy! You may need to turn up the volume on your computer a bit...And don't forget to turn down my playlist in the right sidebar. (Today, by the way, ye olde playlist will be featuring yet another song by Kalai, so you can check that one out, too!)
6 comments:
You are right...he is VERY easy to listen to. I'm in the mood for new music. Sometimes you just get stuck on stuff and you need a change.
He sounds like a 'must have', I'll be paying a little visit to Itunes today for sure. Could be expensive . . .
:)
Kristin
Wow- he is really good, and playing guitar like that with a bandage/cast on his hand- a-ma-zing. Thanks for turning me on to it.
I have to be honest, when I first visited your blog and saw you had Kalai on your playlist, I knew you were a kindred spirit. Anyone who loves Kalai has to be great. You can't be a bad person with Kalai love. And I didn't know he is LDS! That just makes him all the cooler. Have you herd his story about his club hand? Amazing man!
Yep, he had one of those hemangiomas on his hand. I guess the surgery was botched, and he's had a lot of pain with it ever since. I'm glad you mentioned it here because I almost wrote about it in the post.
=)
Me likey. A lot.
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