Who needs guitars? Not James Hill, headliner at NJ Ukulele Fest, Aug. 26-27

Video playlist: Highlights of James Hill opening for Julio Pereira at NJPAC

By Kevin Coughlin

James Hill has been called the “Wayne Gretzky of Ukulele.”

But the headliner for the upcoming New Jersey Uke Fest skated into the guitar arena for awhile, rocking in a cover band as a teen.

Close your eyes on She’s Still Got It, from his latest album, The Old Silo, and you would swear he’s still whaling away on an electric guitar.

“It’s not your grandmother’s ukulele,” Hill said.

That should become abundantly clear on Friday, Aug. 26, and Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016, when the pint-sized instrument and all its permutations will share center stage at the Ukrainian American Cultural Center of New Jersey in Whippany.

Hill, the pride of Langley, British Columbia, heads up an eclectic concert roster that includes bluesman Manitoba Hal; Jim Boggia, of the Beatles tribute band Fab Faux; progressive uke rockers Cousin Earth; and Victor & Penny, midwestern purveyors of Prohibition-era jazz.

They also will lead daytime workshops on Saturday, with basic tips for beginners and meatier fare for those eager to explore slide- and solo techniques, jazz chords and ukulele bass.

Ticket packages for the festival, now in its fourth year, range from $20 to $90. Look for some post-festival jamming on the Morristown Green on Sunday, Aug. 28.

MUSICAL HAIKU

While many players “advance” from ukulele to guitar, Hill did not see it that way.  For one thing, the pantheon of guitar gods is pretty crowded.

“It seemed to me there was so much more to be discovered on ukulele, so many doors to be opened yet. On guitar, what are you going to do?”

Curiously, it was the limitations of four-vs.-six strings that intrigued him. Sort of like how some poets find the strictures of haiku liberating.

“There’s something about the ukulele that forces you to focus, and discover the essence of what you’re trying to do. It’s like a musical fishbowl. There’s not a lot of room to maneuver. You have to really mean it,” said Hill, 36.

He finds the uke especially handy for songwriting; his six albums include many original tunes.

“It’s a smaller fretboard, along with fewer strings, and it really hems you in. But these limitations become a great advantage, creatively. They don’t let you wander. There’s nothing more intimidating than a huge blank canvas. In a way, maybe a smaller blank canvas is easier to warm up to.

“A friend likes to say, ‘Inspiration is what happens when you start working.’ The ukulele invites you to start working.”

Inspired by beat boxers, Hill worked up a unique percussive style, banging his uke like a drum while playing melody and rhythm.  He suffered for his art, damaging fingernails and nerve-endings along the way.

“It’s like using power tools and zoning out,” he deadpanned.

 

RIDING THE THIRD WAVE

While hockey’s Great One is an ambassador for his sport, his musical counterpart does not view himself a ukulele evangelist.

Many Canadian schoolchildren play the instrument; Hill started in the fourth grade and toured with the Langley Ukulele Ensemble, a student group featured in the documentary Mighty Uke: The Amazing Comeback of an Underdog.

“It’s portable, it’s fun, you can sing all these great tunes on it. I never felt like I had to justify it to anybody,” said Hill.

As an adolescent, he discovered social advantages of uking.

“I was an introverted, shy teenager. And it kept me coming back. I was making friends with the instrument, not just sitting in my bedroom wood-shedding,” Hill said, using a term for intense guitar practice. Ukes, he insists, are not really about showing off.  “It is kind of an equalizer.”

At the University of British Columbia, Hill shifted his attention to viola — and to a cello student, Anne Janelle.

“I broke it to her that I was secretly playing ukulele,” Hill said. “She took it pretty well.”

So well that she frequently tours and records with him. They married in 2013 and live in Nova Scotia with their year-old son, Alder, who already is displaying “really good tone” on the uke, according to papa.

Thanks in part to mainstream stars like Taylor Swift and Eddie Vedder, ukuleles are enjoying their “third wave” of popularity. (Ukes were big around World War I, and again in the 1950s.)

Hill has ridden the wave across North America, Europe and Asia, and is looking forward this weekend to his first uke gig in a Uk(rainian) hall.

He’s pretty sure it will go smoother than his last Jersey visit.

In June, the Wayne Gretzky of Ukulele almost climbed onstage at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center without a stick.  His instruments were slow to arrive from the airport.

“I packed the ukes in rifle cases. Probably not the best idea.”

MORE ABOUT THE 2016 NJ UKE FEST