Fans and peers frequently regard Barry Kimokeo as one of Hawai‘i’s most prominent up and coming guitarists. He is one of a handful of musicians to continually strive to innovate and genredefy between the realms of traditional and modern music, all the while painting a picture of limitless tonal and textural possibilities on the instrument.

Many musicians in Hawai‘i come from families steeped in rich musical heritages. Kimokeo, a native of Honolulu on the Island of Oahu, grew up listening to the music of his father’s ki ho‘alu (slack key guitar) and his mother’s classical piano. He sometimes recalls seeing his mother sitting at the piano playing a piece, with his father joining in, improvising a slack key melody line on the guitar to complement. Whether it was the piano or the guitar, or his siblings listening to the latest hit album, music was something that would fill his home at all hours of the day. Intrinsically through his family, he developed a love for all types of music and was never discouraged from singing around the house.

Barry says, “When I was a kid, it was all about listening to music. I kind of grew up listening to all sorts of stuff. As far back as I can remember I always loved music. I loved listening to it, but had no intention of becoming a musician or anything. I just thought music was something to enjoy and listen to, and that’s all I did”.

His first recollections of music were always happy and cheerful. “Probably when I was about three or four, I’d go out and see the trees, the ground, the sunset, and hear a plane traverse the sky or hear water flow or the wind coo, and thought, ‘Hey! Like the colors I see, each sound has a different voice in itself’”.

Early on, his parents never pushed or forced him into music because his main interest lied in many of the normal trappings of a young child. “It was anything from art, to building models, or aspiring to become a paleontologist one day, and dig up dinosaur bones of all things”! But one day, Kimokeo’s father saw a spark in his musical interest when he started asking of how the ‘ukulele “worked” and how the mechanism of sound was generated, after observing a casual tune played.

“I’d just started messing around with the instruments. Noodling with it and picking songs note for note off records”, Barry states. “My dad taught me my first chords. He didn’t read music but he knew where everything was on the guitar. I’d go to my dad or grandfather and ask ‘how do I go about playing this part of the song’? They would say, ‘let us hear’, and sat by the radio and picked off the chords and notes. Man! I thought that was real neat, so I guess I learned that sort of stuff mostly through osmosis. After that, as stubborn as I was, I’d go listen to some music or something and then go try to figure a way of my own to do it”.

Kimokeo has always thought and still continues to believe that playing music is sort of a hobby or stress reliever, and listening to it is vastly more important than playing it. It was not long before he realized that he would like to also learn the piano, saxophone or the violin. He was particularly interested in the violin, which really moved him. Lack of money was always a concern when buying a new instrument, so his parents encouraged him to enroll in the Yamaha Music program. He also took ‘ukulele and slack key lessons for a short time.

Barry has an interesting way of “seeing” music. “Certain notes have certain colors and you get to where you can hear them (colors)”, he says. His piano teacher really stressed developing the ear. He often would sit where he couldn’t see the piano keys and as the teacher hit a note she would ask him to identify it by ear. “I always thought that was a game, but realize now that she was trying to have us develop absolute pitch and an ear to recognize notes to be more of an intuitive player. That’s like a sonic alphabet, to enable you to think of your own music, instead of not being able to play anything until somebody puts a sheet of music in front of you”.

Nonetheless, he regrets not having learned to read sheet music better, because of the wealth of classical and jazz music he now has to learn. Instead of studying a sheet, he has to peck out a jazz standard or a sonata one note at a time, or buy a CD.

The sounds of The Sons of Hawai‘i, Peter Moon, Led Ka‘apana, and Jimi Hendrix were among the young musician’s early inspirations when he began to work professionally as a musician nearing the ending of high school. “I was valuable to the bands I played with in some ways, I guess. I was so dedicated to doing the music thing that it kept me apart from the school thing and other stuff”. Upon graduating from Kalani High School, he was quickly exposed to and played with various notable musicians. Along with three friends from high school and two new vocalists, they formed the group that went on to become Inoa‘ole. Kimokeo paid his musicians’ dues early on...working in clubs all over town and pulling double duty when he joined a short-lived group called Na Kani Pa‘a.

Around late-2000, Kimokeo decided he wanted to pursue a different, more traditional ethnic direction in his music as opposed to his recent flirtations with local pop and jawaiian genres. One of the most important breaks of Kimokeo’s career came when his Uncle Kimo, a prominent musician in his own right, gave him a chance to play in front of Bernard Kalua, another musical hero who saw amazing potential in Kimokeo’s playing. Kalua brought Barry to play with himself and Alika Odom. He offered to tutor and mentor Kimokeo in the music business and also in life. The rest is history. Kimokeo reflects, “It was a rare dream come true for me to play with my childhood heroes”. Consequently, he was introduced to many others who touched his life, such as Ryan Tang, Jerry Santos and Olomana, Kevin Kalauli, Alden Tokuzato, Jimmy Funai, Led Ka‘apana, David Kaulia, and the Makaha Sons, just to name a few.

By the time Kimokeo turned 19, he was already making waves on the local music scene with his falsetto singing and his guitar sounds and solos, and he emerged as a mesmerizing tour de force. What was probably the biggest break for Kimokeo came when Hawaiian music veteran John Koko of the Makaha Sons was introduced to Kimokeo on recommendation from Bernard Kalua. Koko, recognizing his talent, potential, and humble heart, also decided to personally take him under his wing. “Bernard and John are my heroes!”, Barry exclaims. “Those guys have the biggest most generous hearts imaginable, and I'm so thankful to have met them”.

The release of the album “Slack key and Harmony” will mark his solo debut, and the ensuing tour will be the main highlights of 2006 through 2007 for Kimokeo.

With musical influences Jimi Hendrix, Led Ka‘apana, Eric Johnson, Allan Holdsworth, Wes Montgomery and Chet Atkins, just to name a few, Barry Kimokeo presents a broad palette of influences. Along with his dazzling talent and virtuoso facility, Kimokeo's music can venture far beyond Hawai‘i. Ever the consummate perfectionist, Kimokeo continues his eternal quest for the perfect tone.