Seldovia Summer Solstice Music Festival Headliners

Fun, Fiddle and Flamenco Jazz..a great combination for the Seldovia Summer Solstice Music Festival June 20 and 21

Joe Craven 

Joe Craven

 is a madman with anything that has strings attached; violin, mandolin, tin can, bedpan, cookie tin, tenor guitar, mouth bow, banjo, berimbau, balalaika, boot ‘n lace plus a world of percussion instruments including animal bones, squeeze toys, cake pans, waste cans, umbrella stands, martini shakers and...Himself.  His stage setup more often resembles a yard sale.  But there's more to Craven than meets the ear.   Educator, visual artist, former museum curator, motivational speaker, actor/storyteller and festival emcee, Joe’s work is born out of respect and reverence and seeks to honor the creative energy in everyone.  An advocate of the folk arts, Joe’s educational mission is to empower individuals to take possession of their own music and tell their stories by “demystifying” art through self-expression as a daily ritual.

For almost 17 years, Joe Craven was the highly respected multi-instrumentalist with the David Grisman Quintet... yeah, Joe was the guy with the Ralph Stanley autographed bongos and fiddle. Having played and/or recorded with Jerry Garcia, Stéphane Grappelli, Maria Muldaur, Vassar Clements, The Persuasions, Psychograss, The Alison Brown Quartet, Darol Anger, Rob Ickes, Bob Brozman, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, spoken word maven Ken Nordine and many others, Joe has performed music & sound effects on a wide variety of recordings including commercials, soundtracks, computer games and several Grammy nominated projects.

James Cohen James Cohen, originally a rock guitarist for over twenty-five years, has worked with such greats as Mick Ronson and has written and arranged for several bands, winning major Canadian contests as a pop-rock songwriter. His newest CD released on Northern Blues records April 2003 was produced by Richard Bell of Janis Joplin and The Band fame. In 1999 James's guitar playing as part of the group "Del Norte" appeared on a compilation CD called "Puro Flamenco" which also featured Ottmar Liebert. This CD is available in all U.S. record stores on the Neurodisc label, as well as the 2002 release on Borealis records 6 Strings North Of the Border' featuring James Cohen's Flamenco piece, The Wind. Once he was exposed to the outstanding guitar playing of flamenco prodigies Paco De Lucia, Tomatito, and Miguel de la Bastide, there was no turning back for James. He worked day and night learning the complex and subtle rhythms of flamenco, and studied the lightning right-hand techniques of the Spanish gypsies. La Tormenta represents James's love of the more modern Flamenco without sacrificing the integrity and purity of a long and beautiful tradition