"He represented a true Hawaiian lifestyle, and a Hawaiian that pursued a musical career," says Siegfried. "Gabby never made a lot of money in his life. And he never did it for the money. He did it for the love of the music."

And, Siegfried says, it's music you don't hear in Hollywood's version of Hawaii.

"I think this is a great thing for the artists that are on the soundtrack, to be able to get out to this bigger audience of people that are looking for something authentic," he says. "This is real authentic — the music, it doesn't get more real than this."

The soundtrack includes recordings by the late Raymond Kane and Sonny Chillingworth, as well as such younger players as slack key guitarist Keola Beamer. But Beamer was hesitant to contribute to the project at first.

"Hawaii has really been poorly portrayed in the past," he says. "It's been portrayed very stereotypically — a lot of surface stuff. You know, sunlight and pretty girls in bikinis — comedy-lite kind of stuff. I think this is one of best movies to come out of Hawaii, if not the best. I felt proud, you know, as a Hawaiian human being, and that doesn't happen often with Hawaiians in Hollywood."

Beamer and another slack key guitarist, Jeff Peterson, were the only artists director Alexander Payne asked to record specifically for the soundtrack.

"At first I was a little nervous," says Peterson. "I was thinking, 'Wow, I have to go to the studio, and write two pieces on the spot. How's this gonna go?' As soon as I got there, [Payne] had the warmest most positive outlook. And his support was incredible. But what really moved me was how much he cared about the music. He knew the music. He had really spent time getting it deep into his soul. And so when he explained to me what he wanted, I knew exactly how to express it. I found a tuning that would work, and just played from the heart."

The soundtrack showcases a wide variety of Hawaii artists, from the '30s to today. But because it's not a full, new score composed for the film, it's not eligible for an Oscar.