Joe Craven is an American freestyle folk, world and roots music multi-instrumentalist, singer and educator. He is the Director of RiverTunes Music Camp and a Co-Director of the Wintergrass Youth Academy. He plays a wide variety of string instruments, including fiddle, mandolin, ukulele, tres, cavaquinho,

balalaika The balalaika (russian: link=no, балала́йка, ) is a Russian stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular wooden, hollow body, fretted neck and three strings. Two strings are usually tuned to the same note and the thir ...

, as well as percussion, including a pickling jar, a credit card, or a jawbone. Craven is a well known sight at acoustic music festivals and, for many years, was violinist and percussionist for the David Grisman Quintet. Craven lists some of his influences being Jimi Hendrix,

dumpster diving Dumpster diving (also totting, skipping, skip diving or skip salvage) is salvaging from large commercial, residential, industrial and construction containers for unused items discarded by their owners but deemed useful to the picker. It is n ...

Hermeto Pascoal Hermeto Pascoal (born June 22, 1936) is a Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist. He was born in Lagoa da Canoa, Alagoas, Brazil. Pascoal is a significant figure in the history of Brazilian music, mainly known for his abilities in orches ...

, thrift stores, Frank Zappa, educator and aesthetician John Dewey, beachcombing, Carl Stalling,

Eddie Palmieri Eddie Palmieri (born December 15, 1936) is an American Grammy Award-winning pianist, bandleader, musician, and composer of Puerto Rican ancestry. He is the founder of the bands La Perfecta, La Perfecta II, and Harlem River Drive. Early life Pal ...

, field recordings,

Tiny Moore Billie "Tiny" Moore (May 12, 1920 – December 15, 1987) was a Western swing musician who played the electric mandolin and fiddle with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys in the 1940s. He played with The Strangers and Merle Haggard during the ...

, Los Pleneros De Viente Uno,

Darol Anger Darol Anger is an American violinist and founding member of The David Grisman Quintet. Career Darol Anger entered popular music at the age of 21 as a founding member of The David Grisman Quintet. Anger played fiddle to David Grisman's mandol ...

and The Horseflies. Craven has played with many notable musicians including Jerry Garcia,

Stephane Grappelli Stephane may refer to: * Stéphane, a French given name * Stephane (Ancient Greece), a vestment in ancient Greece * Stephane (Paphlagonia) Stephane ( grc, Στεφάνη) was a small port town on the coast of ancient Paphlagonia, according to Arr ...

Alison Brown Alison Brown (born August 7, 1962) is an American banjo player, guitarist, composer, and producer. She has won and has been nominated for several Grammy awards and is often compared to another banjo prodigy, Béla Fleck, for her unique style o ...

Rob Ickes Rob Ickes hymes with "bikes"is an American dobro (resonator guitar) player, born 1967 in San Francisco, California, United States. Ickes moved to Nashville in 1992 and joined the contemporary bluegrass band Blue Highway as a founding member in ...

and David Lindley. He performs solo and in different sizes and versions of his own projects, most notably The Joe Craven Trio.

Discography

* ''Camptown'' (1996) – An album of classic American/Celtic fiddle tunes. * ''Mo' Joe'' (2002) – A collection of classic folk and bluegrass tracks performed in a variety of styles including jazz, hip-hop, rock, and pop. *''Django Latino'' (2004) – A Latin-inspired collection of Django Reinhardt compositions performed on a wide range of instruments, including Joe's Mandolin, Mandola, violin, cavaquinio and percussion. *''Foakee'' (2009) – In collaboration with bassist/pianist/composer Sam Bevan, traditional songs and instrumentals. *''All Four One'' (2011) – Original compositions by the four members of the Joe Craven Trio. Instrumental works and two songs paying tribute to the Blues, New Orleans, Swing, Funk and Bluegrass,as well as music of Brazil, Haiti, Puerto Rico and Ireland. *''Garcia Songbook'' (2018) – An album of songs written or previously performed by Jerry Garcia. With The Sometimers (Jonathan Stoyanoff, Bruce MacMillan, Barry Eldridge, Hattie Craven).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craven, Joe Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American multi-instrumentalists American male singers American folk singers David Grisman Quintet members Psychograss members