Link
Bio/other credits
Joe Craven is a sound farmer, educator, record producer, and former museologist. For over 40 years, he has made a living preserving and playing forward the folk tradition by reimagining it as new music. Joe has recorded and played with Jerry Garcia, David Lindley, David Grisman, Vassar Clements, Rob Ickes, Alison Brown and many other innovative artists. He has produced many recordings of his own, including the critically acclaimed CDs “Camptown,” “Django Latino,” and “Garcia Songbook” and has produced recordings for many other artists. He has also created music and sound effects for commercials, soundtracks and computer games.
As an educator, Joe is featured in the PBS television series, Music Gone Public and he is the Director of RiverTunes’ bundle of camps, including, JAMboree, Vocáli Voice Camp, and WinterTunes Online Camp. He’s a recipient of the Folk Alliance Far-West Performer of the Year Award and the Swannanoa Gathering’s Master Music Maker Award. Joe has presented at over 500 schools, colleges and universities. He teaches privately online and makes house calls offering community/group based workshops. Joe has also been a Master of Ceremonies at music festivals, including Delfest (15 yrs.), Telluride Bluegrass (40th & 41st), Grand Targhee Bluegrass, High Sierra, Live Oak (25 yrs.), Wintergrass, Rockygrass, Millpond (15 yrs.) and the Hangtown / Sugar Pine Music Festival (9 yrs.). He is also a weekend poet and eulogist. He enjoys hiking, museums and, like Bugs Bunny, crossdressing.
He sleeps occasionally.
“Joe Craven is magical” —San Francisco Chronicle
Per song credits
- Mandolin on “Sham Song”
- Fiddle, bongo, instrument case, mouth hat on “Memory Lane”
- Mandolin on “The Long Haired Kings”
- Mandolin, tambourine, hand brushes on “Moses Took Us to the Water”
- Fiddle on “Down to the Mountain”
- Bongo and shaker on “The Ghost Door”
Notes
I’m pretty sure I first saw Joe Craven live onstage at the Warfield playing percussion and other instruments with the Grisman Garcia acoustic band. Joe is a multiinstrumentalist threat and we knew we could rely on him to add tasty fiddle and mandolin parts where we needed them as well as his inventive organic percussion stylings.
He also got my Garcia number down to two (and, via his playing with Grisman and Grappelli, my Django Reinhardt number down to three)!
