After 20 years in the music industry, Yelm resident and 1999 YHS graduate Nui Aalona is nearing his big break in that world through his blend of country, reggae and R&B music, described as Nui Country.
Aalona already has three released singles available for streaming, titled “Just Add Summer,” “Up in Smoke” and “Tonight’s on You.” On July 12, the YHS graduate will release another single, “Kiss Me Hello.”
Aalona said the track was written by some “major writers,” including his manager Kenny Lamb and Barrett Baber, a former contestant on “The Voice.”
“Barrett has been around for a while and has some major writing credits, too, like Cody Johnson to name one. Rhett Atkins to name another,” Aalona said. “He wrote for them, and it’s really cool that he’s writing for me. He doesn’t just give his songs out to anybody, and the fact they’re letting me record with these major writers is really cool stuff.”
In addition to the release of his new single, Aalona said he’s in the works of launching the inaugural Nui Country Fest, in collaboration with Yelm’s 507 Taproom. The artist said he’s working with the business’s owner, Bill DeVore, on hosting a successful inaugural event.
The Nui Country Fest is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 24, at the 507 Taproom in Yelm.
“We’ll have live music, vendors, ax throwing and different events for the kids,” Aalona said. “Hopefully the event will get bigger each year so we can eventually get some bigger acts. We’ll also be including some of our local acts.”
The artist said he’s received a lot of support from the Yelm community through his music and through his performance of the national anthem at the WIAA’s 2023 3A state football championship between his Yelm Tornados and the Bellevue Wolverines. He’s hopeful that the Nui Country Fest will continue to establish a relationship between Yelm residents and the Nui Country brand.
“The Yelm community is really behind the whole push of Nui Country and my records,” Aalona said. “It’s so cool to be able to go out on these national stages and realize that there’s no place like good ole’ Yelm. It’s such a special place. That’s what the Nui Country Fest is all about, building pride in our community. If you can get the support of the local people, you can get the support of the nation and the world. It’s the hardest market to crack, which is the weirdest thing, but it’s the way it works. If you can get one local fan, you can get a million fans.”
After initially breaking into the industry by writing songs and creating demos 20 years ago, Aalona signed a record deal in 2012 by a Seattle-based label. He initially focused on the R&B genre of music. Aalona said the Seattle-based label he initially signed to was part of Universal Music and he got to see some “major studios.”
“I was doing shows down in Phoenix, Arizona. I did a big show for a pretty big artist down there, and I also was doing shows in Vegas, too,” Aalona said. “I was starting to make my way, basically from 2013 to 2015, and then I parted ways with that label, and I signed another deal with Sony Red, which was called Ascension Music Group, which I actually own.”
Aalona added that he was signed to a distribution deal through Sony Red for five years with another partner and created the record label Ascension Music Group. After continuing to develop an R&B and hip-hop sound through the record label, the partnership “didn’t go as well” as Aalona hoped. This nearly caused him to give up on the industry altogether in 2018.
“My partnership didn’t work out the best. We had different ideologies on growth, and then we parted ways from that,” Aalona said. “I prayed on it and took some time off. I’ve always loved country music, and I started playing with it. I was singing hip hop songs with country playing, and people thought it was funny. That’s where it formed.”
Aalona said that he was surprised to hear from people that he has a “voice for country,” but eventually began to write country music and create demos in 2019 after positive feedback. That same year, he reached out to Lamb, another Yelm graduate, and he eventually became Aalona’s manager.
“He left Yelm in the ’90s to try to pursue a music career in Nashville and ended up becoming a producer. One of his first major groups he produced for was NSYNC, and after NSYNC, he got to produce for Justin Timberlake,” Aalona said. “He was already down in Nashville, and I’d already worked with him a handful of times over the last 10 years. He was originally from Yelm, and his little sister was one of my best friends growing up. Throughout all my demos, she told me I should send them to her brother.”
Between 2019-21, Aalona said he “hunkered down” and did a lot of writing sessions, including flying to Nashville where he’d “write for days” and develop new sounding music.
“We came up with this authentic sound of Nui Country, which is country with reggae and R&B undertones. To me, the reason I didn’t make it full bore on the R&B side is because I wasn’t meant to do that,” Aalona said. “Through my faith, I wasn’t really meant to do that, I guess, but through the last few years of developing this sound of Nui Country, it’s just a vibe, and it brings so many different people that are usually not into country music to become fans of it.
“We want to come out with real solid, good records that are one, commercial, but two, have a message. It’s fun. There’s some poppiness to it, and it’s just feel-good music. It’s funny, where people figure out who the guy singing it is, or they see what I look like,” Aalona continued. “It’s not very often there’s a Polynesian country singer coming out of Nashville. We’re working hard to develop this brand where we’re blending my Polynesian culture with the Pacific Northwest culture, along with some Nashville culture.”
Aalona said he has merged his Nui Country brand with his day-time job as owner/operator of Bowers Heating and Air. The branding used for the company is directly tied to his music, and includes a character based off Aalona on the side of the van.
“It’s funny because you have this image of basically me with a guitar on the side of an HVAC and plumbing van,” Aalona said, adding the logo includes a link directing people to his online music platform. “It’s cool to be like, ‘Hey, the company and guy that’s working on our house is also on the radio.’ The main reason why I tie the country music into HVAC is because it was a bucket list thing I did years ago. All my profits and everything I made from HVAC, I put it into a pot and got enough money, wrote some songs, hired a manager and did all the right things to get to Nashville and get signed.”
Aalona said that within the next several years, he aims to open an actual record label and studio in Yelm with Lamb.
“We’re going to use industry credentials, do some podcasting, develop and produce, write and more,” Aalona said. “It’ll be for any of the local people in our area that really can’t get out to Nashville and make it, but maybe they need a piece of Nashville in Yelm.
“We’re developing more and more music, working with bigger artists, and throughout this next year we’re going to be talking with some labels to get me signed onto a contract with a recording label,” Aalona added.
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