Sungha Jung "I'm Yours"

It was Saturday night of Newport Folk and I was hanging with the mvyradio On The Road crew, eating a late dinner, talking about the day.

My wife had made a surprise visit to join me in Newport.

She was talking to weekend DJ Jane about music, and the subject of playing music came up.

My wife got a guitar a few years ago, but found it difficult to a) find time to practice, since we had new babies, and b) press down on the heavy, hard strings of a guitar.

So we got talking about ukeleles.

Both Jane and I had see a documentary called "The Mighty Uke" about the unlikely resurgence of this instrument, and about the joy and ease of playing it.

My wife decided:  She needed a ukelele.

Late the next day, she called me from home to tell me something incredible.

She was driving home from Newport, and she called her mother, to whom she mentioned the ukelele thing.

To her surprise her mother said, "Oh, I have your grandfather's ukelele in the closet upstairs."

And by the time I'd gotten home from Newport, she was already on the Lazy-Z-Boy, strumming away. 

She's since found a treasure trove of Youtube instructional videos that have taught her, in a week's time, to play "Over The Rainbow," Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz.

Her grandfather had a love and fascination with Hawaii, and had traveled there a number of times shortly after the State joined the Union.  There's even a famous story about a surfboard he owned . . .

He also bought a ukelele and learned to play.

The ukelele on the Lazy-Z-Boy

Though she, more than anything, wants to keep the family heirloom, and to learn to play it well, my wife couldn't resist.

A 1950s name-brand (Martin) Hawaiian ukelele?  How would you find out how much it was worth?

She did some Googling, and naturally there is a site.

And she got really cracked up.

Because she said the name of the site, and then realized what she said.

Go ahead, you say it out loud, but do it away from the kids and the co-workers.

The site where she found information on the value of her grandfather's ukelele?

"Uke Hunt."


Hear a uke version of "I'm Yours" on Youtube.


See a Uke tutorial on Youtube.


See the "Mighty Uke" trailer on Youtube.