Full Name – Glenn Awong; “Maoli”

Hometown – Maui, Hawaii

Current City – Maui, Hawaii

Musical Influences – (please name 3-5) George Strait, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, traditional Hawaiian music as well as Reggae

Label – One RPM

Current Single – “Feels Like Love” (as of date of article: 04/27/2026)

Today’s spotlight shines on an artist who redefined the parameters of country music and garnered millions of fans while doing it. Glenn Awong, who goes by Maoli is an incredible singer-songwriter who spans the gamut of country music fans everywhere. Keep reading to learn more about his story.

“I grew up in a little town in Haiku, in Maui, upcountry Maui,” began Maoli. “I did a lot of my upbringing over there. There’s a lot of country style living out there, so I’m very familiar with the country lifestyle.” Maoli’s Hawaiian upbringing brought both music to his life and the country lifestyle that many artists write songs about.

Since the two main genres in Hawaii are traditional Hawaiian music or Reggae, which Maoli shared is called, “island music,” the singer was immersed in the different sounds that island living brought to his ears; however, he still recalls an early love of country music.

“I fell in love [with country music] because my grandfather is into country music. It wasn’t big back then in Hawaii, but country living, we’ve always done that. So my grandpa would listen to country music, and what I fell in love with when it came to that style of music was the storytelling. They would talk about red dirt roads and gravel roads and horses and working hard, and that’s actually the lifestyle I lived my whole childhood, so I could really relate to it.”

The Turning Point:

For Maoli, making music and telling his story was always really important to him; despite, the fact that he didn’t know that he could make a living being an artist.

“I did know at a young age that I had decent talent, but I didn’t know at that age that I’d be doing this at this type of level because if you see where I come from, things like this just don’t happen to people where I’m from. It’s very humbling and I’m super grateful for all of this. […] But I did know that I loved doing this,” shared the artist.

As Maoli began to hone his talent, he began blending the influences that he loved growing up. “I grew up on George Jones, George Strait, Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks because over here in Hawaii, a lot of people like to kinda do what I do, and mix the genres together because Hawaii is really a reggae-island vibe. And I can’t take credit for that because there’s a lot of OG artists that have done this [mixing] before me. The only difference is I gave it a bigger stage.”

While Maoli started in Reggae music, boasting nine independent albums and over a half a billion streams worldwide, his connection to country music came back around 2018. Now, he’s finding mainstream success in blending the genres “We like to grab those melodies and those story-telling lyrics and just make it our own. That’s what we do, it’s very easy for us,” shared the singer, adding, “We just came off of a sold-out tour in Australia, and seeing thousands of people singing your songs, I just still have to pinch myself sometimes. I never thought I’d be on the other side of the world and people are buying tickets to see me.”

Today:

Flash forward to today, Maoli is living in Hawaii, but making music with incredible talent in Nashville. Namely, the singer teamed up with hit producers Dann and David Huff on new music.

Most recently, Maoli released a beautiful and honest song called, “Feels Like Love.” “I wrote that song in Nashville. The idea behind it was I had been through a divorce six years ago, and that broke me to the core. I was going through a really tough time in my life for a good two or three years,” he shared candidly. “As you heal from that, yeah you heal and you move on in life, you can always use those experiences in songs because even though you’re healed from it, other people might not be. I figured the idea would be that I would talk about it and be vulnerable, and share that there is love after heartache. […] I thought at the time that that needed to be heard, and just giving people hope.”

For Maoli creating music that his fans love is paramount, and “Feels Like Love” truly fits the bill. As he embarks on this evolved journey in music, the singer-songwriter promises even more music to come, bigger stages, and more collaborations to await. “There will be a lot of music that I’m going to be releasing, some great songs too. I’m going to be doing some collaborations too. […] It’s with some people that I feel are a really big deal.” Stay tuned!

Connect:

Fans can join our Weekly Round-Up e-newsletter here, for the latest in country music and more news about future Maoli releases.

To keep up with Maoli, follow him on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Maoli’s music is available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released tunes on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.