In 2022, three of Music City’s heaviest hitters – the prodigiously talented Steve Dawson, soughtafter multi-instrumentalist Fats Kaplin, and session-veteran bassist David Jacques – were busy playing gigs, fulfilling studio dates, and producing for others, but they found time to join forces over a mutual love for the stylized Pacific Island hot jazz of the 1920s and ’30s.
However, soon after forming The Volcano Brothers, Kaplin was called for a year-long tour, leaving the group short of the requisite ukulele. After some brainstorming, the uke lacuna was filled by guitar slinger/producer Richard Bennett, who spent more than two decades with Neil Diamond and even longer at his present on-call gig with Mark Knopfler.
“Richard Bennett’s name just popped into my head and I thought, ‘Well, I might as well start at the top,’” said Jacques. “Fortunately, Richard responded to my e-mail immediately with ‘Call me.’”
Also intensely enamored of the pre-war Hawaiian sound, at least a third of Bennett’s fabled collection of 78-rpm records features archetypical Hawaiian artists such as Sol Hoopi, Roy Smeck, King Bennie Nawahi, The Genial Hawaiians, and Irene West’s Royal Hawaiians.
In addition, Bennett owns a number of vintage- ukes, and had recently been gifted a vintage Gibson tenor uke once owned by the great studio guitarist Tony Mottola (VG, October ’24). The instrument had been in the possession of a family member for more than 70 years and often saw service at the Mottola’s Sunday dinners, which hosted Perry Como, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, and occasionally, Frank Sinatra.
Lap-steel maven Dawson is usually armed with a ’29 square-neck National Tricone he employs for about 80 percent of the group’s set; he’ll sometimes grab a 2005 Weissenborn built for the late Kelly Joe Phelps, or an Asher Electro Hawaiian lap steel.
Kaplin rotates four soprano ukes, all from the 1920s – a mahogany Weymann with original friction pegs, Martin Style O, Martin Style 2, or a koa model made by Jonah Kumalae, who demonstrated his technique in a booth at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, in San Francisco. Many say Kumalae and his extraordinary instruments triggered the Hawaiian-music craze in the U.S. that lasted more than two decades.
Jacques uses an early-’50s Kay Swingmaster S-9 upright with gut strings. His road axe in his days with John Prine was a Karl Meisel plywood model that was his first upright and the one he learned on after beginning his career playing electric. Today, his studio dates are evenly divided between upright and electric.
When Kaplin returned to “the fray,” as Dawson recalled, it served as a welcome enhancement.
“Fats can play anything with strings unbelievably well, even lap steel,” he said. “He’s totally amazing.”
Bennett and Kaplin create a bonus ukulele synergy.
“Fats’ style is strong and identifiable, while Richard composes songs within songs that are brilliant melodic pieces. They’re not just ukulele solos – they’re intricate, melodic things that stand on their own.”
Kaplin and Bennett employ different tunings; Kaplin uses D6 (A-D-F#-B).
“It’s the tuning you’ll find in the old books,” he says. “It’s up a whole step from the mellower C that eventually became the standard, but D pops more when you need volume. Roy Smeck always used it.”
Bennett tunes his tenor A-E-C with a G up an octave. His Kamake concert uke is Bb-F-Db with an Ab up an octave Finally, his Martin soprano is B-F#-D and a high A.
“Fats and Richard will evaluate a song and gravitate to whichever instrument they think will do the job and complement each other,” Dawson says. “A lot of the music I bring to the table is in weird keys. They’ll learn a song and transpose it in their heads.”
The group serves as a keystone for many of Nashville’s other top session musicians who want to join the fun.
“We have a rotating cast of characters,” says Dawson. For instance, the group is often augmented by first-call virtuosi such as the multi-talented Jim Hoke, Dobro legend Rob Ickes, and studio stalwart guitarist Andy Reiss, best known for being part of The Time Jumpers.
Pondering a Volcano Brothers gig not long ago, Dawson asked, “How crazy is it that this esoteric Hawaiian music from the 1930s has brought together so many of Nashville’s finest players?” – Jim Carlton
This article originally appeared in VG’s September 2025 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.