49TH GRAMMY Award Nominee for best Hawaiian Music Album! "Grammy Award-winning record producer Charles Michael Brotman takes a significant step forward with this perfect showcase of Elmer "Sonny" Lim Jr. talents. Brotman captures Lim's musical magic with 11 exquisite solo recordings." John Berger, The Honolulu Star Bulletin 10/01/05 SONNY LIM, a member of Hawaii's famous musical Lim family, was born and raised in the heart of paniolo (cowboy) country on the Big Island. Sonny's parents taught their children to play a variety of musical instruments. His introduction to ki ho'alu (slack key guitar) came as a child, when he was inspired by Gabby Pahinui while watching him perform at a lu'au in Kohala. Sonny's biggest inspiration and influence came at age 12 from a well known slack key guitarist and family friend, Uncle Fred Punahoa. Punahoa took a keen interest in Sonny's playing, and spent several weeks living with the Lim family in Kohala in order to teach him. Sonny's professional career started as a teenager when he commuted to Oahu to perform with the Makaha Sons of Ni'ihau. Over the past two decades Sonny has performed with virtually every 'name' musician in Hawaii. He is a multiple Hoku award winner, performs regularly with his family in Hawaii and Japan, and has received recent acclaim for his performance on Hawaii's first GRAMMY CD, "Slack Key Guitar Volume 2" (Palm Records). This is Sonny's first solo CD. Around the 1830s, King Kamehameha brought Mexican and Spanish cowboys to the Big Island to help the Hawaiians handle the growing population of cattle. These cowboys introduced the guitar to the Hawaiians, who adapted aspects of their own musical heritage to the instrument. They loosened or 'slacked' the guitar strings, which creates the variety of tunings that give slack key its unique and beautiful sound. Slack key guitar first developed as a thriving musical force in paniolo regions of Hawaii and now continues to evolve throughout the state. Recorded at Lava Tracks Recording Studio in Sonny's home town - Kamuela - the ranching region where ki ho'alu originated. It was produced, mixed, mastered and engineered by GRAMMY Award winner Charles Michael Brotman. The guitars used on this recording are a Santa Cruz Studio Model H guitar and a 1976 Ramirez classical guitar.