It’s rare, even locally, that someone in their 40s bursts onto the music scene, but Kenny Tagavilla is the exception. The 44-year-old Kona native and Hilo High School alum is a successful independent local trucker by day. He’s played in cover bands for the past couple of decades and also plays music for the choir and congregation at Kona Baptist Church — an experience which, as a man of faith, he cherishes.
But the father of two grown children, daughter Tianny and son Koa, and proud grandfather of 5-month-old granddaughter Paizley, gained recognition at a whole new level in 2022, when he released an EP with the songs “Crusin’,” “Sail On” and “Drift Away.” “Crusin’,” with its infectious reggae backbeat and sweet harmonica fills, earned Tagavilla Na Hoku Hanohano nominations last year for Most Promising Artist of the Year and Favorite Entertainer of the Year, the latter a fan vote. He didn’t collect a coveted statuette, but he did attend last year’s awards ceremony at the Hawaii Theatre in Honolulu.
“Being a country boy from the Big Island, I was a little bit astonished,” Tagavilla said. “I was, like, ‘Man, I’m here, and I’m in the company of all these people that I’ve thought of so highly and I’ve seen on TV and heard on radio since I was a kid.’ But once I got in there and I was shaking hands and talking to them, and they were just like me, I respected them even more.
“It was a really, really cool experience.” That was merel.
