Beatles' classics rocked on the ukulele

AUSTIN (KXAN) - If you've had a "Hard Day's Night" and "All You Need Is Love," then the Beatles Complete on Ukulele Festival at South by Southwest is right up your "Abbey Road."

Roger Greenawalt is the festival's producer. Greenawalt has been a Beatles fan since he was four years old when they first arrived on the music scene.

"There's a Beatles for every mood," said Greenawalt. "The first burst is 'Oh wow, I love girls, there's girls all over the world and I love them.' But actually they were much more sophisticated than they were letting on."

Greenawalt even teamed up with David Barratt to take on all 185 songs of the Beatles on ukulele. They kept a blog to chronicle their adventures.

Why the ukulele you ask? Greenawalt thinks it's rather simple.

"I started playing [ukulele], and I got happy," said Greenawalt. "It's a happiness machine, ya know? I sat down in the park and little children came up to me. I'm completely harmless with a ukulele. I liked being rated PG. The Beatles are like that too. Really kid friendly. [The ukulele] creates an Aloha zen."

John Lennon's first instrument was a ukulele. At the end of George Harrison's life, he was obsessed with the ukulele. In fact, Greenawalt claims that towards the end of Harrison's life, he would carry on two ukuleles when flying, just in case he found someone else that played too.

So, for their third festival production of the Beatles' collection on ukulele, they will perform all 185 original Beatles' songs on ukulele live over two days. Featured guest artists include Ben Kweller, Creed Bratton from NBC's The Office, Jessie Murphy, Spirit Family Reunion, Drew Smith, Anya Marina, Michael des Barres, and Jazz Mills.

The festival is free, but they will pass the hat to raise money for EMI, the record company that supported the Beatles.

Check out the great acts at the Beatles festival: