The Volcano Brothers are a Nashville-based band devoted to the sizzling, jazz-fueled sounds of Hawaiian music from the 1920s and ’30s, the era when steel guitars ruled the airwaves, island musicians became international celebrities, and hot swing rhythms swept across the mainland.

Born when Steve Dawson and Fats Kaplin discovered a shared, slightly obsessive love for early Hawaiian music, a style they were pretty sure no one else on earth still cared about, the group set out to bring this vibrant, long-overlooked sound back to life.

Their debut album, Light of the Hilo Moon, is a warm, swinging celebration of the golden-era Hawaiian music that first captured their imagination, played with the kind of ease, humor, and musical chemistry that only comes from a lifetime onstage. The record features Steve Dawson on National tricone lap steel and weissenborn, Fats Kaplin on ukulele and fiddle, Richard Bennett on ukulele, Dave Jacques on upright bass, and Andy Reiss on archtop guitar. Dawson is one of the most acclaimed guitarists and producers from

Canada. Jacques spent almost three decades holding down the low end for John Prine, while Bennett’s storied career includes years with Neil Diamond, an ongoing role in Mark Knopfler’s band, and producing classics like Steve Earle’s Guitar Town. He is also an obsessive collector of vintage Hawaiian records and instruments. Kaplin has logged serious miles with John Prine as well, while bringing his multi-instrumental magic to projects with Jack White, Mitski, and countless adventurous artists. Reiss has worked with Marty Stuart and Vince Gill and has been a member of Nashville’s celebrated Western swing supergroup The Time Jumpers for over 20 years. Frequent collaborator Jim Hoke adds clarinet and horn work on several tracks and in live performances, bringing a splashof New Orleans-style swagger to the band’s vintage Hawaiian sound.

Recorded over three days at Dawson’s Henhouse Studio in Nashville, Light of the Hilo Moon was captured entirely live off the floor, with no headphones or isolation booths, just five to six musicians gathered in a room, listening hard and playing together the old-fashioned way. To honor the spirit of the era, the sessions were recorded exclusively with ribbon microphones and mixed completely in monophonic sound, embracing the punch, clarity, and timeless feel of early island and jazz recordings.

Inspired by pioneers like Sol Hoʻopiʻi, King Bennie Nawahi, and Sol K. Bright, the Volcano Brothers celebrate the era when Hawaiian musicians embraced blues, jazz, and popular song, helping fuel a worldwide Hawaiian craze in the late 1920s and ’30s. Rather than treating this music as a museum piece, the band approaches it as a living tradition, bringing together vintage Hawaiian swing, deep musicianship, and decades of experience at the highest levels of the music world to create performances that feel both authentic and joyfully alive.

Reflecting that same philosophy, Light Of The Hilo Moon will be released exclusively on 180-gram vinyl and as a high-resolution digital download through Bandcamp, bypassing streaming platforms in favor of experiencing the album as a complete work.

Whether on record or onstage, the Volcano Brothers honor the musicians who made steel guitar a worldwide sensation while proving this remarkable music still has the power to surprise, swing, and captivate new audiences.