Meet the new Moloka'i Tita: Amy Hanaiali'i.

For the past nine months, singer Hanaiali'i (she's dropped the Gilliom from her billing) has given up conventional city life to raise veggies and care for pigs and operate a shrimp farm on a 70-acre parcel on Moloka'i's east side.

It's a move, personal as well as professional, that has brought her closer to the elements that propel her: her 'aumakua.

Since small-kid time on Maui, Hanaiali'i has believed in 'aumakua, the family or personal gods represented in life via animals (such as dogs) and sea creatures (like sharks) and other elements (the wind) that are believed to be deified ancestors and sources for spiritual belief.

Thus, titling her latest (and perhaps greatest) album " 'Aumakua," released this week, was both a chance to honor her personal connections with people, places and things that have affected her life, and to build a bridge to welcome those not yet familiar with the treasured, spiritual practice of worshipping and acknowledging 'aumakua. There's a CD-launch party at Aloha Tower Marketplace tomorrow night.

" 'Aumakua' started with my manager, Allen Sviridoff, who co-produced my album with Matt Catingub," said Hanaiali'i. "He's sort of new to the Islands, though he produced those Return to Romance concerts that Matt did, and he was fascinated that my 'aumakua is rain — something that has been in my family for generations.

"That's when his mind started turning, helping me with song selections that evolved into the perfect title, ' 'Aumakua.' "

Hanaiali'i, 40, said the time was right for the evolution of her latest album, sparked by her move to Moloka'i after living briefly in Hawai'i Kai with her husband, John Austin, and their 2-year-old daughter, Madeline. The family also had lived on Kaua'i's North Shore.

"Moving to Moloka'i has opened my eyes," she said. "You see, firsthand, all of it; when you live country, you see it and it all means so much more."

"On our 70 acres of land with a shrimp farm, Madeline has 12 pigs, two goats and a cow. Her pigs have celebrity names like Raquel Welch, Hamlet and Pork Hash; her cow's name is Lambchops. It's a real farm, how John was raised, and the way Kihei was on Maui, when I was raised. I'm trying to instill morals, values and spirituality in her; so she can look at things in a different way, experience life and get to value it."

And she enjoys getting down and dirty, dealing with the 'aina.

"We do the farm thing; I'm in my pareu (the Polynesian wrap), wearing slippahs, working the land, planting vegetables," said Hanaiali'i. "I love it; I'm the full-on Moloka'i Tita, and it's really important to be grounded."

Her grandmother, Jennie Napua Woodd, taught her, at a very young age, to pay attention and get acclimated to 'aumakua; they're everywhere, if you search and believe, she said.

"Hawai'i has changed so radically, so when you live country, you see it often and it means so much more to me. Which is basically why we moved to raise Madeline there."

The album and the change in lifestyle come at a pivotal time of her singing career. With her broad spectrum of credits, and a palate that taps a wide range of musical styles and genres, Hanaiali'i is reinventing herself as she scopes a broader reach on the Mainland and abroad, hoping to lasso Hawaiian music fans not only with Hawaiian songs.

Her arsenal includes a diverse menu of songs, from "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" from "Oklahoma!" to "When You Wish Upon a Star," the Disney theme song from "Pinocchio." She's co-written a couple of tunes, placed her imprint on established tunes such as an in-Hawaiian version of Kui Lee's "I'll Remember You" and the Bette Milder hit "In This Life" reinterpreted by the late Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, and simply brings 'aumakua perspective to her music.

Catingub helped pick songs that fit her style and offered connections with 'aumakua.

"It kinda blew my mind that 'aumakua is so universal; it can be in any language," said Hanaiali'i.

She said Sviridoff was relentless in provoking and challenging her. "Allen was really hard on me and made me really work on my vocals," she said. "I do anyway, but singing these songs — some jazz, pop, musical comedy and Hawaiian — was like going back to school again."

In the process, she encountered two 'aumakua that touched her spirit.

One was "Uncle Kui," as she called the late singer-composer Kui Lee, whose last composition was the late Don Ho's signature, "I'll Remember You." She discovered it anew in an old Myrtle K. Hilo album that featured an in-Hawaiian translation, titled "He Mana 'O Au." Hanaiali'i had talked to Lee's widow, Auntie Nani Lee, about the song ... and proceeded to record it during the same time Auntie Nani died earlier this year. She imagines the song as one Kui Lee was leaving, on his deathbed, so his spirit would live on. Further, Hanaiali'i is godmother to Kuuleimomi, granddaughter of Kui and Nani Lee, and "I wanted to sing the song in Hawaiian, since she's in a Hawaiian immersion school."

The other was Bruddah Iz, "who, because he also has passed, is an 'aumakua. I carefully selected a song that would work for my vocal range," and she tapped "In This Life," which he had rebranded as "'N Dis Life," also as a lasting memory of a triumphant career.

Because the family makes regular pilgrimages to Honolulu, there's still contact with Zipmin and plate lunches and treks to get manicures and pedicures and hair done, which are not readily accessible on the Friendly Isle.

And with " 'Aumakua" potentially a mainstream release on the Mainland and Japan, with deals with Concord Music and Pony Canyon Records, Hanaiali'i isn't abandoning the life of glamour or road trips entirely.

"We're kinda hoping and praying this one will cross over," she said. "I thought to myself: I sing pure Hawaiian music, my albums are largely Hawaiian music, but I want to lure people into Hawaiian music. Thus, our arrangements are ear-friendly; if someone not familiar with Island music hears 'When You Wish Upon a Star' with slack-key and it sounds like Hawaiian music, we hope they will say, 'Oh, I get it.' "

After all, she said, everywhere she travels — Japan, China, both East and West coasts — the underlying sentiment always is a Hawaiian connection.

"People honeymoon here, vacation here; they're affected by or infected by Hawaiian music," said Hanaiali'i. "They always remember Hawai'i, or want to come here, so there are ties. When I travel, Hawai'i always is with me."

Thus, her recording of "Feels Like Home" may well emerge as one of her signatures, and a new generation's "Honolulu City Lights."

"The song brings me home, no matter where I travel; maybe it will bring others home to Hawai'i, too," she said. "After all, a song can be an 'aumakua, too."