Doug Baker may not be the first Californian to fall in love with Hawai`i. But we can't think of anyone who expresses that love better than this singer-songwriter who has flown in and out of Honolulu so many times over the past four decades. And no other songwriter has spent as many hours in the night skies over the Islands he loves so well.

Doug is a pilot, a flight engineer who came and went in the 70s and 80s while flying for TIA, and later TAA, "non-sked" charter airlines that also took him all over the world. He fell in love with Hawai`i on his first visit and soon thereafter, wrote his first song about this love. He also spent a few years with UAL before joining The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) about 20 years ago.

Doug Baker, singer-songwriter

He wrote his first song about the Islands in 1974, and his most recent one in 2006, while he was in Honolulu recording this CD. By 1979, he decided that he wanted to record an album of his Hawaiian songs. He selected 13 of his favorites and it was to be called "Baker's Dozen." He went into a local studio and laid down the vocal and guitar tracks. But there were many interruptions and it was not until 2005 that he finally resurrected the idea. By then, he had written 400 songs, recorded and released two LPs -- "Around The World" and "Feast or Famine" -- on the Mainland, and had more than two dozen Hawaiian songs to choose from.

So, it was back into the studio, with some old and some new Baker songs about Hawai`i and, with help from some of Hawai`i's best studio musicians -- `ukulele virtuoso Bryan Tolentino, slack-key guitar master George Kuo, flutist Brad White, and Pierre Grill, master of the keyboards and so much more -- his dream came true.

The end result is a Hawaiian music CD that is all about LOVE.

Yes, Doug is in love with Hawai`i and his songs tell you why. In fact, the word "love" has found its way prominently into the lyrics of almost every one of his songs, from "Lovely But Lonely" to "L.O.V.E. is Hawai`i."

Listen, and you can almost see the Island chain as he saw it when he was inspired to write "His Golden Stepping Stones." He was in a NASA C-141 at 41,000 feet and he could see all of the islands stretched out before him, like "stepping stones to heaven." It is not surprising that this prolific composer who has spent most of his adult life in the cockpits of jet aircraft also included God and heaven in many of his songs. He's spent a lot of time up there, closer to his maker.

He calls Hawai`i "The World's Most Precious Treasure" and he has written songs about the Big Island, Maui, Moloka`i, Kaua`i, and O`ahu, "where love is everywhere."

You can hear the Irish brogue (he was born in South Boston) when he sings "I'll Be Waitin' in Waikīkī," a song that could quickly take its place alongside such popular hapa-haole "ethnic" tunes as "Lola O`Brien, the Irish Hawaiian," and "The Hawaiian Scotsman." Brad White added the Irish whistle.

Baker wrote some of the songs in such far away places as Africa or the Middle East, when he was fantasizing about where he "wanted to be." "That helped me get through some undesirable adventures," said the prolific composer.

Although, many of his songs were written when he was "homesick" for the Islands, some, like "Mr. `Ukulele," were inspired and written on the spot, here in Hawai`i nei. He had just listened to `ukulele virtuoso Eddie Kamae and the Sons of Hawai`i at a Ke Awāwa O Nā Pilikua lū`au in Nānākuli and was moved by Kamae's picking. Doug said he was so impressed with Eddie's style and he knew that it could go beyond Hawai`i and Hawaiian music. He sat quietly in the back seat writing lyrics and a melody, and by the time we reached Waikīkī, it was done.

Baker has sung these hapa-haole songs about Hawai`i in performances all over the world, and in 1991, when Hawai`i Governor John Waihe`e heard Baker's songs about our Island home, he wrote to the composer: "You are among a growing group that treasures Hawai`i as home; your songs and guitar music tell the ever-changing atmosphere of the Islands and communicate the caring aloha spirit to all who visit."

Now retired from NASA, but still flying as a consultant, the globe-hopping troubadour is still on cloud nine. And "On Maui" will be released this month on the DOUREI PRODUCTIONS label for all to enjoy.

On this third Baker album are songs that could, read that "should," be used to promote Hawai`i. He sells it so well. You can bet it will be looked at and listened to by those in the tourism industry, from the HVCB and groups promoting each individual Island to the State, and the four Mayors and their promotions staffs.

Check out Doug Baker's beautiful lyrics at www.bakerssongs.com or www.hawaiiansong.com.

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