Longtime friends Robyn and Ginger both grew up in the same neighborhood on the East end of Honolulu. Back then Waikiki was like a pearl in an oyster, filled with palm trees, beach boys and song. As a child Robyn accompanied her mother, singer Emma Veary to the great hotels, often listening from the beach as her mother charmed the throngs.Ginger was across town at the Hawaiian Village where her father had a photography studio. Female musical trios were commonplace back then, dressed in fabulous muu muu, always with flowers pinned in their hair. As kids that’s when the Hapa Haole songs and Hawaiian tunes really percolated into their souls.
As adults they met again in hula class on Maui and began to play ukulele on Robyn’s couch. Before long, so much fun was had that a gig was necessary to justify the time squandered to their families. Hence the Hula Honeys.
Bassist Jonathan Drechsler is a native of New York City, where he studied the bass with Richard Davis, majored in music at the City College of New York, and became a fixture on the Greenwich Village folk & blues scene throughout the 1970's, appearing with Odetta, Bill Dicey, Johnny Winter, and others. Since 1995, he's made his home in Hawaii, where he's performed and recorded with Gabe Baltazar, Abe Weinstein, Henry Allen, Owana Salazar, and the Hula Honeys.
