Harp Guitar Player of the Month

The James Shaw Family
A Hawaiian Musical Dynasty

by Gregg Miner
First Draft November 2020
Updated February 2021


Believe it or not, this 3-part PDF article series originally started out as a simple "harp guitar players" exercise, but got a little out of hand! I hope the topic will interest my readers as much as it did me, as the bulk of this information and material had never been known or seen before today. Part 3 closes with a more in-depth look at some of the harp guitars and related instruments seen throughout the series. I am looking for help to continue to identify anonymous musicians seen throughout the articles, and of course any additions or corrections for future editions. Please email me here to discuss. Click on each image link below to read the PDFs, or feel free to save to your private computer for convenience. 

In addition to the article, I've included a gallery of some of the many other Hawaiian musicians who played harp guitars or Knutsen steels, etc. that have been spread throughout Harpguitars.net over the years (again there are still many musicians to identify). Enjoy!

 

The images below are scattered throughout Harpguitars.net. You'll first see Dyer harp guitars, then Knutsen instruments, then Gibson, and a couple unknown harp guitars. Please contact me if you'd like provenance on any of these images and to share any new musician identifications. The first image shown (an old one from Les Cook) may show Charles Clark and his wife (who are featured in James Shaw Part 3). Other musicians below appear in some of the Shaw images from the World Fairs, etc. (members of some of the numerous Vierra's Hawaiians outfits, for example).

hawaiian_group,wDyer-les_cook.jpg (219840 bytes) dyer_jim&bob-london-resocentre.jpg (44481 bytes) dyer_hawaiian_band-miner.jpg (150674 bytes) vierra2-iowa_redpath.jpg (129021 bytes) dyer-moana_vierra's_royal_hawaiians-loc.jpg (270620 bytes) vierra-iowa_redpath.jpg (143120 bytes)   bennie-color.jpg (148785 bytes) lavetta-miner.jpg (128438 bytes)  holldorf's_royal_hawaiian_serenaders.jpg (103618 bytes) sunshinetrio.jpg (30588 bytes) bells-large.jpg (223014 bytes) knutsen_uke_band-miner.jpg (117083 bytes) royalhawaiians.jpg (44191 bytes) kekuku-500.jpg (176977 bytes)        royal_hawaiian_quintet-loc.jpg (288108 bytes)    gibson_slide_player-c-ebay.jpg (119279 bytes) gibson-hobbs.jpg (119769 bytes) Chautauqua_hawaiian_quintette-iowa_redpath.jpg (168128 bytes) mowana_hawaiian_qt-iowa_redpath.jpg (75073 bytes)

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