Jim “Kimo”West is recognized as one of the world’s top players of ki ho’alu or Hawaiian “slack key” guitar. “Slack key” is a style of playing that evolved in the 1830’s when Spanish vaqueros, imported by King Kamehameha III to teach the Hawaiians cattle management, brought guitars to the Big Island of Hawaii . The Hawaiians were fascinated by the instrument and developed their own ways of tuning it by lowering some strings from standard tuning. Ki ho’alu literally means “loosen the key”.

Kim...