Artist description Armed with his old guitar, his story telling in song with Jazz, Blues and Hawaiian influences takes you right there. This inexhaustable Hawaii Musician will get you dancin' and smilin.

Music Style Blues,blues,blues,Rhythm & Blues,Country,Island,pop

Musical Influences Taj Mahal,Hank Williams,Gabby,Pahinui,blues,John Hyatt

Similar Artists Taj Mahal, John Prine,Leon Redbone, Springsteen, Keb mo, john pryne, Jimmy Buffett

Artist History Michael Barretto has played in clubs, at concerts throughout the years; solo and with bands. Through the 70's and 80's Michael's band Ha`upu ("Remembrance" in Hawaiian) played in Hawai'i at restaurants, bars, and parties. In the 90's, he played mostly solo gigs and concerts. He currently plays with Taj Mahal and The Hula Blues Band, and solo. He met Casey Havens (his producer). Sitting around jamming in Casey's store on Kaua`i - FreeBorn Music, Casey one day says, "So when are you going to record?" "As soon as somebody comes up with the money to finance me, I'm in there." The band was put together, Michael calling the players he knew to be the best around. He had known them all for years. Cindy Combs- well-known Hawaii songwriter and performer - since 1972, drummer Koko Kaneali`i (a seasoned Hawai`i musician having spent time with Don Ho's band, Melveen Leed, and on the Hawai`i circuit) since 1982 . Guitarist Kirby Keough since around 1990 and Bassist Randy Carnevali from back in the 70's. Steel guitarist Kenny Emerson who adds to the swing with his stylings is known all over for his tunes, two of his own recordings, and his appearances with Bob Brozman and Pablo Cruise. They started the next day.

Group Members Michael Barretto - Vocals, Guitar, Ukulele,mandolin; Randy Carnevali - Bass, vocals; Bill Mello - Electric Guitar, vocals; Hank Curtis - Keyboards; Ken Emerson - Guitar, Hawaiian Steel Guitar, National resophonic guitar; Ron Rhodes - Drums, Percussion, Vocals Cindy Combs- ukulele, bg vocals; Delia Valentin - bg vocals; Kaliko Kealoha - bg vocals

Instruments Guitar,Ukulele, Mandolin,Steel Guitar,keyboards

Albums Sometimes I Go, Michael Barretto, Live at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz (Australia)

Press Reviews A potpourri of Pacific pleasure KEITH GLASS (As printed in the Melbourne Herald Sun Septmber 16,2001) WHEN Michael Barretto performed at the East Coast Blues And Roots Festival a couple of years back he thought he had died and gone to heaven. During his performance as part of Taj Mahal's Hula Blues Band, he made a spiritual connection with the laid-back Byron Bay location and crowd. "Everyone was wearing shorts and flip-flops, or as you call them, thongs, I felt right at home," he says. His home is Hawaii and he says it was like Australia was "the big island in the chain". Same dress, same easy attitude and great music everywhere. He vowed to get back here as soon as possible. Besides, he says with a giggle, "we had Captain Cook too - in fact we ate him". Leaving out the possible difference in culinary habits, the popularity of island music in our area is a long-standing tradition stretching from Torres Strait Islanders, across to Broome and as far south as the Tasmanian indigenous people on Cape Barren Island. It makes sense that the Pacific is a shared experience into which we can tap. Despite our vast inland, we are a coastal people. Barretto's return, to perform at the TAC Wangaratta Festival of Jazz, is as a journeyman songster with an Hawaiian influence. His music cuts I across genres from blues to country. His solo album, Sometimes I Go, is a modest homegrown affair that displays his effectively simple songs, warm vocals and casual interplay at home with friends. There are few overt Hawaiian references - just an overall impression of something being created more for pleasure than profit, from where the pressures of the music industry come a distant second to real life. "We have a word kolohe - it means mischievous and that's an element I like to bring to my songs," Barretto says. "There is innuendo there, playful or perhaps sexual, that hopefully gives them deeper meaning." Barretto says in his youth - he was horn in 1954 - playing the local music was frowned on and discouraged. What local music was available was debased, watered clown and performed in the major hotels to tourists. “There was a small sub-culture listening to the real thing, for instance Gabby Pahinui the, great "slack-key" guitarist was a friend of my daddy, who also played, and they took it out there to the people," he says. His own musical epiphany came after hearing a Taj Mahal album soon after acquiring is first guitar gaining new insight into the power of song and sensing one day that he would play with the blues-rock legend. They finally met in 1980. The eight-piece Hula Blues Band has been touring twice a year for almost a decade, with Barretto as an integral member. Of his own musical career, he is pragmatic and says it would be impossible to maintain a career doing just original material from his birthplace. In the past two years he has visited several European countries and through sheer willpower and persistence, has made his dream of returning to Australia a reality. His singularity of purpose is in contrast to the open charm and modesty of the man himself. “I'm not going to hurt anybody with what I do," he says disarmingly. "If I can find some people to join me, that's cool". Michael Barretto will be performing at TAC Wangaratta Festival of Jazz, from Friday to Monday, November 2-5.

Additional Info Michael tours solo and with his 5 piece band. Check the website ( http://Brudda.com ) for tour schedule and infomation

Location Kekaha, HI - USA

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