Joe Craven brings concert and songwriting workshop to Yoga Community

A new music venue in town welcomes an old timer on Nov. 10, as the Yoga Community brings ace sideman and multi-instrumentalist Joe Craven in for a song writing workshop and concert.

Craven has been a mainstay at Northern California folk festivals for many years. He brings his 18-year-old daughter Hattie with him, and they promise a “muliti-generational kind of show.”

The extended Grateful Dead family knows Craven because of his work with Jerry Garcia, of the Dead, and mandolin legend David Grisman. Craven has also played with violin virtuoso Stephan Grappelli and first call sideman David Lindley. He is usually found these days fronting his own troupe, the Joe Craven Trio.

The promotional tagline for the show is “singing and playing folk and popular music spanning the last 100 years.” No easy task for a two hour show, but Craven and his daughter are up to it.

Hattie is a “regular member of my touring group,” the elder Craven said in a phone call from his home in Dixon, California. He mentioned the joy of singing with his daughter. “She brings a millennial spirit to the group, as well as being a woman, which I value.”

Craven said the pair “will play folk music, from traditional American folk songs to current pop songs.”

“We defy genres, reimagine the songs,” Craven said.

During the afternoon before the show, Craven will host a songwriting workshop, which he calls a “Songetry Workshop.” During the two-hour session, Craven will “empower people who are new to the idea of songwriting. We will connect it to poetry and examine the fusion of the two.”

He cites the importance of the “socialization of the process, fostering a sense of community.”

The show is being promoted by Coyote Road Music in conjunction with the Yoga Community. Tickets for the 3 p.m. “Songetry” session and the 6:30 p.m. concert are sold separately, and are available at the Yoga Community. Those interested in attending both will be given a discounted rate.