Virtuoso multi-instrumentalist and genre-busting arranger, Joe Craven has been compared to Indiana Jones: he's a musical archeologist going on wild adventures with his discoveries, and taking his audience along for the exhilarating ride. Acclaimed for his reworkings of traditional tunes within a world music context, Joe breathes new life into such folk and jazz classics with rocking arrangements and daring instrumentalization.

Joe's passionate, energetic performances on mandolin, violin, and percussion with Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Psychograss, Wake the Dead, and many others have delighted audiences and earned him a reputation for adventurousness and a playful musical sense of humor. In the words of David Grisman, "Everything Joe touches turns to music," and this is certainly true of the famed percussion extravaganzas in which he employs everything from his mouth, chest, and skull to cheese graters and drinking glasses. Likewise, 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.

Tonight Joe celebrate the release of Django Latino (Crowart). The album explores the compositions of gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grapelli through a musical lens of Latin America. Inspired by musical styles and rhythms from Cuba to Argentina, from Spain to the USA, Joe uniquely showcases melodies by two of the most significant musicians of 20th century string jazz within a landscape of cumbia, merengue, samba, tango, Latin jazz and more!.