Krystin Anderson

From the way he talks, you wouldn't guess Kalai was a career musician.

"I've always approached it kind of like a game, like a sports event," Kalai said about each performance he plays. "If I finish and it's quality, then I win; and if I don't and it's a turd, then I lost."

Not even Hawaiian-born, Alaskan-raised officially named Kaniela Ka Lei Ali'i 'O' Kalani Kala'i -- see why he just goes by Kalai? -- can pinpoint why he has, for the last 12 years, been writing and playing music.

"I'm probably the least artistic person that does this for a job that you'll ever meet," he admitted.

But after four albums and hundreds of concerts, he is certainly proof that success in music is more than artistic zeal -- it's a lot of work.

"I would hope [my fans] like it because they sense that I put a lot of work into pleasing them," Kalai said. "Hopefully, they feel like I've gotten somewhere near the things that they want to hear, that they would design themselves if they could."

He meets these audience expectations, in part, by performing with drummer Mike Sorich and bassist Eric Wallengren, whom he described as serious, focused musicians.

"It's always helpful to play with guys that are better musically than you, and that's what they are," Kalai said about his bandmates. "I don't really have to get on their case about being better 'cause they're better than me, so who could gripe?"

His band's next album, "Two Sticks and a Pauper's Hymnal," will be released at his upcoming show Saturday at the Covey Center for the Arts. The songs are arrangements of hymns with Kalai's own well-loved style.

"Some friends have been bugging me to get an album of hymns done that are hip and soulful and edgy -- some Sunday music -- and I finally decided to do it," Kalai said.

Sarah Kalai, both wife and manager of the musician, said she thought the album differed from his usual style, but said that is part of what makes him valuable as a musician.

"He's always been in tune with other people and their thoughts and feelings," she said.

"With him having gone through a little bit of life himself, he can relate to a lot of different circumstances with his upbringing ... I think that he can appeal on different levels with different people."