Society Hall  "where community celebrates!"

Joe Craven is one of the most impressive and accomplished multi-instrumentalist musicians there is in the new acoustic/bluegrass-newgrass/forward folk realms, and one of the most renowned to ever grace the Society Hall stage. David Thom is a mandolinist and guitarist and is a veteran of many bluegrass bands, including Vintage Grass and the Bill Hearne Trio, and both Joe and David are former members of the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience, so it's a bit of a reunion!

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 Joe is an award-winning instrumentalist, a vocalist, music producer, creativity educator, actor, storyteller, visual artist, noisemaker, fashion “insultant” and former museologist. For over 40 years, Joe has made a living playing forward folk tradition and process by mashing up ideas and sound tools from a variety of unexpected places, creating new music altogether. Joe has made music with Jerry Garcia, David Lindley, David Grisman, Alison Brown, Howard Levy, Vassar Clements, Rob Ickes and many other innovative artists. He is a featured artist/educator in the PBS television series, Music Gone Public, and Joe has created music and sound effects for commercials, soundtracks, computer games and contributions to several Grammy-nominated projects. From Carnegie Hall to street-corner busking around the world and back – Joe’s at home and loving every minute.

As an award-winning educator, Joe has taught with jazz vocalist Inga Swearengen, bassist Victor Wooten, children’s music innovator Paul Reisler and jazz percussionist Jason Marsalis. He’s the Executive Director of RiverTunes / JAMboree Roots Music Camps in California. He’s a recipient of the Folk Alliance Far-West Performer of the Year Award and the Swannanoa Gathering’s Master Music Maker Award in North Carolina where Joe has taught for over 15 years during Fiddle Week and, more recently, Contemporary Folk Week. Joe has also Emceed many music festivals including Delfest, Grand Targhee Bluegrass, Telluride, High Sierra, Wintergrass, Live Oak, Sugar Pine and others. Joe is a poet and eulogist. He sleeps occasionally.

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David Thom’s talents are best judged by the admiration of his peers, with numerous invitations to perform from leading artists both onstage and in the studio, including David Grisman, Peter Rowan, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Don Rigsby and Laurie Lewis, to name a few. His command of acoustic guitar and mandolin is perfectly complemented by wide-ranging vocal abilities. Though firmly rooted in bluegrass, David’s musical repertoire knows few bounds, from traditional to contemporary, from tributes to originals, from Flatt & Scruggs to The Grateful Dead.

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“Joe Craven is magical” – San Francisco Chronicle “Everything Joe touches turns to music” - David Grisman