PHOTO: UkuleleLarry Sings with his Kamaka Baritone Ukulele

Larry D. has posted a just a few songs but has made a special niche for himself on YouTube singing soulfully with his Kamaka Baritone Ukulele. I am not surprised to find out that Larry is professional performer. I think the deeper LowDGBE baritone ukulele sound accentuates his voice wonderfully.

Larry has a distinctive history as a singer, educator, professional and writer. I appreciate his photo contribution and everyone who has taken the time to share a picture of themselves with their baritones. Many people are getting together to share music due to the accessibility of this humble ukulele. YouTube has really allowed many new connections to be made around the world -- it is amazing! But it also feels so ordinary as we are propelled with newer and newer technologies.

Here's another new one from Larry, doing a Joni Mitchell cover.

And Larry added a little history...

"I've been a singer all my life; and growing up in the 1960s and 70s, I'm of the generation where everybody and their pet poodle owned a guitar. I owned one, too, but I never learned to play it even passably well: I always felt like I was wrestling the guitar and the guitar was winning. I sang in small clubs and cabarets (in Southern California, mostly) in the 1980s and 90s, accompanied by hired pianists or combos - I never self-accompanied in public. I picked up the (soprano) uke in 1998, after stumbling into one of Jim Beloff's "Uke-Topia" concerts at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica (California). It was like coming home. I loved the size of it, and the fact that there were only four strings to deal with. For the first time, I became a one-man band, at 40. I played the uke circuit for several years, singing rock-era pop covers and the occasional folksy original. But because I'm a first tenor, my high singing voice and the GCEA-tuned uke always seemed (to me, anyway) like a whole lot of treble. One day at a uke jam, a fellow handed me his baritone uke; a few strums later, I knew I'd finally found my axe - the sound of the guitar with the user-friendliness of the ukulele."

Thanks for sharing your story Larry. Jeff a.k.a. Humble Uker