Kanekoa

Maui’s Kanekoa will perform Saturday, June 25, at the Crystal Bay Casino. Ticket sales begin Friday.

Kanekoa’s instrumentation is three ukuleles and a cajon, and in the band’s 25 years it’s captured the attention of folks such as Los Lobos, Gregg Allman and the Grateful Dead’s Bill Kruetzman.

Kruetzman first saw the band when it opened for 7 Walkers. He later hired Kanekoa to play at his wedding in Kauai.

“They are the Hawaiian Grateful Dead,” Kruetzman said.

David Hidalgo of Los Lobos said, “These guys scare me, they are that good.”

Two of the members – Kaulana Kanekoa (lead vocals, rhythm ukulele) and Travis Rice (cajon) — grew up in Reno. “Uncle” Don Lopez plays fretless U-bass and the lead uke is played by Vince Esquire, who joined the Allman Brother onstage and toured and recorded with Gregg Allman.

Kanekoa’s new album, “Songs from the Great Disruption” includes contributions from Jake Shimabukuro, G. Love and Steve Berlin, who produced the album.

“Kanekoa is one of those special bands where years and years of hard work give them the license to create seemingly effortless beauty, but behind the scenes there’s a lot of sweat equity,” said Berlin, who plays saxophone and keyboards for Los Lobos. “Their peaceful and gorgeous songs are uniquely suited for these unsettling times, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of working with them on it.”