Carson Valley Arts Council presents Houston Jones band March 13

Staff Reports

Carson Valley Arts Council presents Houston Jones with special guest Joe Craven, March 13 at the CVIC Hall, 1602 Esmeralda Avenue, Minden. Reception at 6 p.m., show begins at 7 p.m. Information, 782-8207.

Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online at www.cvartscouncil.com/events

Houston Jones is a high-octane Americana quintet based out of the San Francisco Bay Area performing a blend of original folk, bluegrass, blues and gospel.

Houston Jones has been a hit at every festival they've played, including Strawberry, Telluride, Sisters, American River, and the Millpond Festival in Bishop, Calif., where they swapped sets with Joe Craven. They were voted Best New Discovery and Best Vocalist at the Strawberry Music Festival.

Travis Jones, lead singer and rhythm guitarist, began performing as a child accompanying his mother on gospel tours in the South. He honed his soulful delivery in his years as a child preacher in holiness churches around his native Shreveport, only to throw down his Bible when he saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan.  

Chris Kee, who plays bass, cello, and guitar, has a degree in ethnomusicology from Yale, focusing on the music of Pentecostal churches. Balancing his bookishness with Americana street cred, Kee is a regular conscript with Peter Rowan's Free Mexican Air Force, a long-time cohort of Telecaster wizard Jim Campilongo, and has performed with Jim Lauderdale and Buddy Miller, and at the Kate Wolf festival with Buddy Miller, Emmy Lou Harris, Shawn Colvin, and Patty Griffin.

Glenn Houston on lead guitars was the original guitarist for and founding member of the Waybacks. Houston, who plays left-handed and upside-down, was voted 2009 Best Guitarist by the Northern California Bluegrass Society.   

Percussionist Peter Tucker, who along with Kee was in the original rhythm section of the Waybacks, has deep roots in the Americana world, having performed and recorded with a virtual coffee table book history of American musicians, including Tim Hardin, Richie Havens, the Beau Brummels, Warren Zevon and Skunk Baxter.

Keyboardist Henry Salvia, a veteran of Detroit's club scene, has toured internationally with the Johnny Nocturne Band, and performed with Bo Diddley, Rickie Lee Jones and Big Jay McNeeley.

More at www.houstonjones.com

Joe Craven plays anything with strings attached: violin, mandolin, tin can, bedpan, cookie tin, tenor guitar, mouth bow, banjo, berimbau, balalaika, boot 'n lace plus percussion instruments including animal bones, squeeze toys, cake pans, waste cans, umbrella stands, martini shakers and himself. 

Craven was a multi-instrumentalist with the David Grisman Quintet for 17 years. He was the guy with the Ralph Stanley autographed bongos and fiddle. Having played and/or recorded with Jerry Garcia, Stephane Grappelli, Maria Muldaur, Vassar Clements, the Persuasions, Psychograss, the Alison Brown Quartet, Darol Anger, Rob Ickes, Bob Brozman, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and Ken Nordine, Craven has performed music and sound effects on commercials, soundtracks, computer games and several Grammy-nominated projects. More at www.myspace.com/joebobcraven