"Joe Craven is from Mars...the good side of Mars!  A wonderful and wacko album, 'Mo'Joe' takes folk songs and Bluegrass to thier limit.

Check it out for  a twist on everything you believed sacred about ANY musical genre."

"Much of what goes on here defies logic, and that's part of the album's palpable charm. I just keep recalling that Chuck Berry line about changing the beauty of the melody until it sounds just like a symphony. Or a jazz sextet. Or a rap master. With Joe Craven at the helm the possibilities are endless."

                                                            - Sing Out! Magazine

"Often side splitting, Joe Craven's new look at old songs will open ears and expand the boundaries of what many consider folk music to be, as he takes numerous different century-old folks and rearranges them in often drastic ways." 4 1/2 stars out of 5 *****

                                                                                         - All Music Guide

"...he breathes new life into such folk classics as 'Hear Jerusalem Moan' and 'Banks of the Ohio' with rocking arrangements and daring instrumentalization and [have] earned him a reputation for great adventurousness and a playful sense of humor... the boundaries of folk music seem to expand whenever Joe picks up the mandolin or violin and sets tradition on its ear with his wild, clever stylings."

                                            – Freight and Salvage – Berkeley, CA

"Craven is reinventing the folk idiom.... "

                                                         - Sacramento News and Review

"He's one of those rare musicians, both as an interpreter of the music he plays and a scholar who's studied its history... he's been able to combine his passions—art, history and music—into presenting songs embellished into new tunes that have a timelessness that stays."

                                                                                 - Sacramento Bee

"A distinctly American tour de force."

                                                             - Davis Enterprise, Davis, CA

"...a tight, well produced, 17 track exposition...'Mo'Joe' takes standards and puts them in a Cuisinart. Craven's drum and string-play tastes like well-blended musical moonshine: Ferment string-driven folk song 100 years. Boil out impurities such as buttoned-up bluegrass affect and reserved vocals. Cut with a viral sense of rhythm and the musical sensibility described by the modifier 'world'. Bottle and serve—live if possible. When he's in front of his own trio, playing the mandolin, fiddle and hand drums among more exotic axes, the audience gets 200-proof Craven."

                                                                              - Arizona Daily Star

"While much of the music on Mo'Joe was inspired by classic field recordings of American roots music—Delta blues, field hollers, spirituals and work songs—the spirit of Craven's performances is anything but preservationist. More striking than his ability to turn anything into an instrument is the Sybarite congregation he brings to the stage, as he tailors a distinct voice and persona for each tune. He is dedicated to music as a living experience, a force that binds people together through the act of creation [and] his longtime commitment to musical education, helping people discover their inherent musicality."

1. -
   

2. -                                              -  San Jose Mercury News
   

Camptown

Performance Reviews

"Brushes and hi-hat? There's no drum kit up there. Are they using a sampling drum machine? Not a chance. To the surprise and delight of the audience, today's trap effects are being produced by... multi-instrumentalist Joe Craven, a man of many hats... a man of many strange sounds."

                                             - Drums and Drumming Magazine

"Few musicians are as adept at as many different instruments as Craven... adventurous, sometimes humorous, sometimes strikingly beautiful arrangements... an extremely versatile band...."

                                                                                             - Dirty Linen

                    “A seriously talented multi-instrumentalist.”

                                                                    -  Fiddle On Magazine

"Joe is a treasure in the worlds of string jazz and roots music."

                                                                                        -  Reno Gazette

“...Craven is a monster percussionist, [and] that's only half of the story. He's also a fine fiddler and confident mandolinist."

                                                 -  Albany Times Union, Albany, NY

"Craven, the extraordinary percussionist, has come up with a way to really use his head... rapping his skull, tapping his jaw, slapping his cheeks and pounding various other body parts in a percussive display that's both humorous and remarkably musical, Craven creates a whole host of rhythmic effects, including imitating percussion instruments from tablas and snare drums to hi-hats and shakers, plus a few things that can't really be described."

1. - Santa Barbara News
   

“When he's in front of his own trio, playing the mandolin, fiddle and hand drums among more exotic axes, the audience gets 200-proof Craven."

                                                                            - Arizona Daily Star

"It's amazing the sound you can get from bronze strings and a pair of very hot hands. It is Joe Craven, trusty fiddle or mandolin at the ready, working magic. His melodic delicacy is reminiscent of David Grisman's, and his percussive power echoes the cafe jazz of Django Reinhardt."

                                                   - Sacramento News and Review

"With David Grisman leading the way, it would be easy to overlook any percussionist, but that's not the case with Craven. Even when he's providing solid rhythmic backing to Grisman's creative soloing, you notice him. [Craven's] grooves are as steady and fluid as a rainforest waterfall and his tones are warm, rich and comforting. And just when you think you got him nailed as a percussionist, he walks out front and wrenches out a tearful solo on the violin or races for the finish line in a mandolin duet with Grisman. Then to top it off, maybe just to tease the audience a little, he'll sing to close the show." Joe Craven may not be a marquee attraction, but he is respected as a creative genius by those who do know his work."

                                                                         -  Santa Cruz Sentinel

"Be careful what you hand Joe Craven. On second thought, hand him everything you can reach from the dining room and kitchen—and watch him turn the stuff into musical instruments. Craven plucks his mandolin till it talks; he has his fiddle singing, and then he layers on noises from a mouth hat, Mason jar, violin case, mixing bowls, a silverware tray, and doors slamming."

                                                                                                - New Times

"Everything Joe touches turns to music,' says David Grisman. No one who saw Joe wring a percussion concerto from his garbage-bag raincoat during a downpour at the Strawberry Music Festival could disagree."

                                                                   - San Jose Mercury News

"The most outstanding thing though, besides Grisman of course, was multi instrumentalist Joe Craven. Craven played rhythm mandolin and an assortment of percussion instruments. He was just incredible.

"I caught the tail end of a solo performance by Joe Craven. I was only able to catch two songs, but those two songs were a life changing experience. I have met the Master. Joe Craven got up and played "John Henry"on just his mandolin. I have no idea where some of those chords he played came from. They aren't on my mandolin. At times it was almost as if he was attacking the mandolin instead of playing it. He had this Delta Blues thing going on as well. It was mesmerizing. I wanted him to keep playing for the rest of the afternoon. His last song was In the Pines where he accompanied himself on some weird little drum thing. Drums are evil, except when played by Kenny Malone or Larry Atamanuik... Now I have to add Craven on to that list.

If you had asked me if you could play "In the Pines" on a drum, I would have laughed at you. That is before seeing Joe do it. After his set, I sat down and interviewed him for the Twangzine. Joe was an interesting fellow. He made me re-think my definition of Folk Music. It doesn't all have to be dreadfully earnest songs about dead baby whales and stuff. Folk Music is just what it sounds like. Music made by folks. He told me about a solo record he has out where he performed a bunch of traditional tunes in different World Music Styles, and about a record he will soon be releasing which is more like what his solo act was. I've got to investigate this stuff further."

                                                              –Jeff Wall, Editor, Twangzine,

                                 from his review of Merlefest, 2001                                                                                         

“I knew that Joe Craven could do most anything in the world, and everyone knows what Grisman can do. They dance through the Grisman penned "Pneumonia" and the bluegrass tinted "Cedar Hill" which highlight the seemingly endless talent of Joe Craven. I have always been a sucker for multi-instrumentalists, but I have never seen a player who is so adept on such disparate instruments. His conga work is both smooth and driving, both rhythmic and musical. His mandolin work, even next to the master, is impressive, but, of course, he is really a fiddle player. His fiddle work on "Cedar Hill" leaves me slack-jawed. I find myself, at various times throughout the show, looking for the high-hat. It is nowhere on stage, but it is most certainly in the air. It isn’t until Craven steps away from his instruments and begins his convulsive body slapping and countrified scat/beatbox antics that the riddle reveals itself. The man recognizes no boundaries. He just won’t accept that no one is supposed to be that good at everything.”

                                                     - Jambands.com

"This work shows that Craven is not only  a virtuosic musician but has a wonderful sense of humor as well... production is bright and filled with wonderful textures but never once feels too busy or crowded. The music is as colorful as the massive array of instruments that appears on the cover. It truly is an absolute joy to hear and a breath of fresh air for the folk tradition."

                                                                                             - Dirty Linen

“Depending on your taste, this is either sacrilege or the Second Coming. An Afro-pop 'Rights of Man', a Puerto Rican jibaro-inspired 'Uke Pick Waltz', a hip-hop 'Kitchen Girl', and somehow it works. In the hands of a lesser musician this would be awful, but Craven makes it very tight and stylish. Lots of interesting percussion, great dancing music."

                                           - "Sing Out" Magazine

"Camptown is a very entertaining CD. Joe Craven's fiddle and mandolin playing are outstanding. When his arrangements hit the mark the music soars and tunes we sometimes take for granted take on a new vitality."

                                                        - Fiddler Magazine

"It takes a musician of rare sensitivity and skill to pull off a combination as audacious as a reggae version of an Irish reel or a samba-style 'Camptown Races'. It takes a musician like... Joe Craven 14 times in a row. String and percussion player Craven... mixes and matches a whole globe full of influences on this winning release."

                                                      - Oakland Tribune

"Try to contain yourself listening to this, and be thankful you don't have my job trying to figure out which tunes NOT to play on Folk Alley!"

                                                                                 - Folk Alley.com

"Camptown is performed with exhilaration and love for the music, and it shines through. This is a journey not to be missed on any account."  

1. -                                                        - All Music Guide
   

2. -
   

"The concept is so bent and the playing so crisp and exciting that fiddler-mandolinist-percussionist Joe Craven's world music interpretations... rock and roll into a great one-world ball of sparkling musicianship and tangled rhythms."

                                               -San Francisco Bay Guardian

"Craven on his album Camptown, has created a conglomeration that is distinctive, creative and a fun romp through stylistic mixtures or, perhaps, cultural collisions that work remarkably well...."

       –George Graham, The Graham Weekly Album Review

NEXT>

<PREV