Joel Rafael
Encyclopedia
Joel Rafael is an American singer-songwriter and folk
musician from San Diego County, California
.
Described as a natural interpreter of Woody Guthrie's
lyrics and music, Woodyboye, Rafael's second volume to celebrate the songs of Woody Guthrie, was released on Appleseed in 2005. The first volume, Woodeye, was released on Inside Recordings in 2003. Joel and his acoustic band have been performing and touring the country since 1993 and the Joel Rafael Band is considered one of the most refreshing new acts on the national folk festival scene. In 2000, the Joel Rafael Band, comprising Joel Rafael, (lead vocals and guitar), his daughter Jamaica (violin, viola and vocals), Carl Johnson (acoustic lead guitar) and Jeff Berkley (ethno-percussion), released their third album, Hopper on Inside Recordings, an independent label created by Jackson Browne
and his management. The album was nominated in 2001 for an Association For Independent Music (AFIM) Best Contemporary Folk award.
suburbs of Los Angeles. His music education began with grade school music lessons beginning with accordion lessons at age eight closely followed by the snare drum. Rafael played in the school band through junior high school. It was not until high school that he picked up the guitar. During high school he also began writing songs, including the theme song for a play produced by his school's drama department.
Although he was exposed to and loved music from the time he was a child, it was the folk music of the early 1960s that began to stir his interest in writing as he studied the writing and performing styles of Woody Guthrie, The Limelighters, Joan Baez
, Bob Dylan
, Ian and Sylvia
, Ramblin' Jack Elliott
and dozens of others. Although Rafael moved to the Northwest in the late 60s, he and his wife eventually returned to California settling in the rural foothills of North San Diego County. There, while raising a family, Rafael continued to chronicle his life and times in song. During the 1970s, 80s and early 90s, Rafael performed around southern California in various groups including as a duo with Rosie Flores
. As a solo performer and with his band, he opened shows throughout the southwestern United States for artists including Crosby, Stills and Nash, Sheryl Crow
, Laura Nyro
, Taj Mahal
, Iris DeMent
, Emmylou Harris
and the legendary John Lee Hooker
.
In the early 1990s, when the AAA radio format came into being, KKOS in Carlsbad, California was one of the first radio stations to adopt the diverse format. Rafael found himself on the air along with artists from a variety of genres. "Because the format allowed something new, when I put my album out, it got added to the regular rotation" at KKOS, he said. KKOS was a commercial station paying royalties for the songs it aired and filing logs of its playlists with national reporting agencies - providing Rafael with his first national exposure.
In 1994, the Joel Rafael Band released their first CD on Rafael's own Reluctant Angel Records. The album won the San Diego CCMA award that year. In 1995, Rafael was recognized with the Kerrville Folk Festival's
New Folk Emerging songwriter award. In 1996, the band released a second CD, Old Wood Barn, which was an Americana Hot Pick in GAVIN. Their third release Hopper was released in 2000 and produced by Rafael with the help of Dan Rothchild (Better than Ezra, The Lost Butterfield Tapes), who also played bass. Paul Dieter engineered and mixed the recording.
In 2003 Rafael was invited to perform in the Ribbon of Highway, Endless Skyway tribute show to honor Woody Guthrie. The ensemble show, which was the brainchild of Texas singer-songwriter Jimmy LaFave
, toured around the country and included a rotating cast of singer-songwriters individually performing Guthrie's songs. Interspersed between songs were Guthrie's philosophical writings read by a narrator. In addition to LaFave members of the rotating cast included Ellis Paul
, Slaid Cleaves
, Eliza Gilkyson
, husband-wife duo Sarah Lee Guthrie
(Woody Guthrie's granddaughter) and Johnny Irion
, Michael Fracasso
, and The Burns Sisters
. Oklahoma songwriter Bob Childers, sometimes called "the Dylan of the Dust," served as narrator.
Also in 2003 Rafael's first collection of Woody Guthrie songs, Woodeye: Songs of Woody Guthrie, was released. The album included 14 songs, 12 which were penned by Guthrie, one by Rafael, and one unpublished lyric, "Dance A Little Longer", is a co-write with words by Guthrie and music by Rafael. The album also includes guest appearances by Jennifer Warnes
, Ellis Paul
, Van Dyke Parks
, and Matt Cartsonis. "I really wanted to make a recording that would be a Woody Guthrie experience for a new audience: a collection of songs, both familiar and rare, that would bring Woody's material within reach of the ears of today's listeners," explains Rafael. In her review of Woodeye for the North County Times, Kathy Klassen said, "Truly, this entire CD is memorable, and not just because of the songs of Woody Guthrie. Rafael, his band and collaborators offer a cohesive and interesting musical presentation that is only occasionally a tad overproduced. For the most part this album is a gift."
Two years later in 2005, Rafael released Woodyboye: Songs Of Woody Guthrie And Tales Worth Telling, Vol. 2, an album that includes four previously unpublished Guthrie lyrics. Special guests Jackson Browne, Van Dyke Parks, Jimmy LaFave and Jennifer Warnes cameo with Rafael and his core band that includes daughter Jamaica on violin and vocals, Carl Johnson on acoustic lead, Will Landin on bass, and Mauricio Lewak on drums. "Together they authentically and emphatically bring Guthrie - the man and his music - into the new century as vibrantly as the first day Woody hit the dusty roads."
In July 2007, Rafael was one of seven performers honored at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival
. Festival organizers honored those artists who had performed at all ten festivals since the first in 1998. The honorees performed at a benefit show titled "In the Spirit of Woody Guthrie". In addition to Rafael, honorees were Jimmy LaFave, Don Conoscenti, Ellis Paul, Bob Childers, Terry "Buffalo" Ware and the Red Dirt Rangers.
In April 2008, Rafael released Thirteen Stories High
, the first album of original material since Hopper was released in 2000. Thirteen Stories High opens with a simply-worded protest song "This Is My Country," featuring backing vocals by David Crosby
and Graham Nash
. Nash said "I wish I had written this song. So powerful and profound - a call from his heart to ours."
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
musician from San Diego County, California
San Diego County, California
San Diego County is a large county located in the southwestern corner of the US state of California. Hence, San Diego County is also located in the southwestern corner of the 48 contiguous United States. Its county seat and largest city is San Diego. Its population was about 2,813,835 in the 2000...
.
Described as a natural interpreter of Woody Guthrie's
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
lyrics and music, Woodyboye, Rafael's second volume to celebrate the songs of Woody Guthrie, was released on Appleseed in 2005. The first volume, Woodeye, was released on Inside Recordings in 2003. Joel and his acoustic band have been performing and touring the country since 1993 and the Joel Rafael Band is considered one of the most refreshing new acts on the national folk festival scene. In 2000, the Joel Rafael Band, comprising Joel Rafael, (lead vocals and guitar), his daughter Jamaica (violin, viola and vocals), Carl Johnson (acoustic lead guitar) and Jeff Berkley (ethno-percussion), released their third album, Hopper on Inside Recordings, an independent label created by Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
and his management. The album was nominated in 2001 for an Association For Independent Music (AFIM) Best Contemporary Folk award.
Biography
Rafael was born in Chicago and raised in the San Gabriel ValleySan Gabriel Valley
The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, United States. It lies to the east of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and west of the Inland Empire. It derives its name from the San Gabriel River that flows...
suburbs of Los Angeles. His music education began with grade school music lessons beginning with accordion lessons at age eight closely followed by the snare drum. Rafael played in the school band through junior high school. It was not until high school that he picked up the guitar. During high school he also began writing songs, including the theme song for a play produced by his school's drama department.
Although he was exposed to and loved music from the time he was a child, it was the folk music of the early 1960s that began to stir his interest in writing as he studied the writing and performing styles of Woody Guthrie, The Limelighters, Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Ian and Sylvia
Ian and Sylvia
Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson, née Fricker. They began performing together in 1959, married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975.-Early lives:...
, Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Ramblin' Jack Elliott is an American folk singer and performer.-Life and career:Elliot Charles Adnopoz was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents in 1931. Elliott grew up inspired by the rodeos at Madison Square Garden, and wanted to be a cowboy...
and dozens of others. Although Rafael moved to the Northwest in the late 60s, he and his wife eventually returned to California settling in the rural foothills of North San Diego County. There, while raising a family, Rafael continued to chronicle his life and times in song. During the 1970s, 80s and early 90s, Rafael performed around southern California in various groups including as a duo with Rosie Flores
Rosie Flores
Rosie Flores is a rockabilly and country music artist of Mexican American heritage. Her music blends rockabilly, honky tonk, jazz, and Western swing along with traditional influences from her Tex-Mex heritage...
. As a solo performer and with his band, he opened shows throughout the southwestern United States for artists including Crosby, Stills and Nash, Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...
, Laura Nyro
Laura Nyro
Laura Nyro was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. She achieved considerable critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums Eli and the Thirteenth Confession and New York Tendaberry, and had commercial success with artists such as Barbra Streisand and The 5th...
, Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal (musician)
Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...
, Iris DeMent
Iris DeMent
Iris DeMent is an American singer and songwriter. DeMent's musical style encompasses the genres country and folk music.-Early life:...
, Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
and the legendary John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
.
In the early 1990s, when the AAA radio format came into being, KKOS in Carlsbad, California was one of the first radio stations to adopt the diverse format. Rafael found himself on the air along with artists from a variety of genres. "Because the format allowed something new, when I put my album out, it got added to the regular rotation" at KKOS, he said. KKOS was a commercial station paying royalties for the songs it aired and filing logs of its playlists with national reporting agencies - providing Rafael with his first national exposure.
In 1994, the Joel Rafael Band released their first CD on Rafael's own Reluctant Angel Records. The album won the San Diego CCMA award that year. In 1995, Rafael was recognized with the Kerrville Folk Festival's
Kerrville Folk Festival
The Kerrville Folk Festival is a music festival held for 18 consecutive days in the late spring/early summer at Quiet Valley Ranch near Kerrville, Texas. The event has run on a yearly basis since 1972. In November 2008, the Kerrville Folk Festival and Kerrville Wine & Music Festival were acquired...
New Folk Emerging songwriter award. In 1996, the band released a second CD, Old Wood Barn, which was an Americana Hot Pick in GAVIN. Their third release Hopper was released in 2000 and produced by Rafael with the help of Dan Rothchild (Better than Ezra, The Lost Butterfield Tapes), who also played bass. Paul Dieter engineered and mixed the recording.
In 2003 Rafael was invited to perform in the Ribbon of Highway, Endless Skyway tribute show to honor Woody Guthrie. The ensemble show, which was the brainchild of Texas singer-songwriter Jimmy LaFave
Jimmy LaFave
Jimmy LaFave is an American singer-songwriter and folk musician born in Wills Point, Texas, a small farming community located near Dallas. At a young age, LaFave's family moved to the Dallas suburb of Mesquite, Texas where he attended junior high and high school. By the early teens LaFave was...
, toured around the country and included a rotating cast of singer-songwriters individually performing Guthrie's songs. Interspersed between songs were Guthrie's philosophical writings read by a narrator. In addition to LaFave members of the rotating cast included Ellis Paul
Ellis Paul
Ellis Paul is an American singer-songwriter and folk musician. Born in Aroostook County, Maine, Paul is a key figure in what has become known as the Boston school of songwriting, a literate, provocative and urbanely romantic folk-pop style that helped ignite the folk revival of the 1990s...
, Slaid Cleaves
Slaid Cleaves
Slaid Cleaves is a singer-songwriter born in Washington, D.C. and raised in South Berwick, Maine and Round Pond, Maine. An alumnus of Tufts University, where he majored in English and philosophy, Cleaves lives in Austin, Texas....
, Eliza Gilkyson
Eliza Gilkyson
Eliza Gilkyson is an Austin, Texas-based folk musician. She is the daughter of songwriter and folk musician Terry Gilkyson and Jane Gilkyson. She is the sister of guitarist Tony Gilkyson, who played with the Los Angeles-based bands Lone Justice and X...
, husband-wife duo Sarah Lee Guthrie
Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion
Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion are a musical duo....
(Woody Guthrie's granddaughter) and Johnny Irion
Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion
Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion are a musical duo....
, Michael Fracasso
Michael Fracasso
Michael Fracasso is a singer-songwriter based in Austin, Texas. His music spans country and rock as he sings in a high tenor that evokes the "high lonesome" sound of early country....
, and The Burns Sisters
The Burns Sisters
Folk, pop and rock are given a Celtic slant by Ithaca, New York-based vocalists the Burns Sisters. Accompanied by Rich DePaolo's guitar, Eric Aceto's fiddle and their own guitar and mandolin, the three sisters—Annie, Marie and Jeannie—harmonize with heartfelt spirit...
. Oklahoma songwriter Bob Childers, sometimes called "the Dylan of the Dust," served as narrator.
Also in 2003 Rafael's first collection of Woody Guthrie songs, Woodeye: Songs of Woody Guthrie, was released. The album included 14 songs, 12 which were penned by Guthrie, one by Rafael, and one unpublished lyric, "Dance A Little Longer", is a co-write with words by Guthrie and music by Rafael. The album also includes guest appearances by Jennifer Warnes
Jennifer Warnes
Jennifer Jean Warnes is an American singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer. She is known for her interpretations of compositions written by herself and many others, as well as an extensive playlist as a vocalist on movie soundtracks.Between 1979 and 1987 Warnes surpassed Frank Sinatra as...
, Ellis Paul
Ellis Paul
Ellis Paul is an American singer-songwriter and folk musician. Born in Aroostook County, Maine, Paul is a key figure in what has become known as the Boston school of songwriting, a literate, provocative and urbanely romantic folk-pop style that helped ignite the folk revival of the 1990s...
, Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks is an American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, author and actor. Parks is perhaps best known for his contributions as a lyricist on the Beach Boys album Smile....
, and Matt Cartsonis. "I really wanted to make a recording that would be a Woody Guthrie experience for a new audience: a collection of songs, both familiar and rare, that would bring Woody's material within reach of the ears of today's listeners," explains Rafael. In her review of Woodeye for the North County Times, Kathy Klassen said, "Truly, this entire CD is memorable, and not just because of the songs of Woody Guthrie. Rafael, his band and collaborators offer a cohesive and interesting musical presentation that is only occasionally a tad overproduced. For the most part this album is a gift."
Two years later in 2005, Rafael released Woodyboye: Songs Of Woody Guthrie And Tales Worth Telling, Vol. 2, an album that includes four previously unpublished Guthrie lyrics. Special guests Jackson Browne, Van Dyke Parks, Jimmy LaFave and Jennifer Warnes cameo with Rafael and his core band that includes daughter Jamaica on violin and vocals, Carl Johnson on acoustic lead, Will Landin on bass, and Mauricio Lewak on drums. "Together they authentically and emphatically bring Guthrie - the man and his music - into the new century as vibrantly as the first day Woody hit the dusty roads."
In July 2007, Rafael was one of seven performers honored at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival
Woody Guthrie Folk Festival
The Woody Guthrie Folk Festival is held annually in mid-July to commemorate the life and music of Woody Guthrie. The festival is held on the weekend closest to July 14 - the date of Guthrie's birth - in Guthrie's hometown of Okemah, Oklahoma. Daytime main stage performances are held indoors at the...
. Festival organizers honored those artists who had performed at all ten festivals since the first in 1998. The honorees performed at a benefit show titled "In the Spirit of Woody Guthrie". In addition to Rafael, honorees were Jimmy LaFave, Don Conoscenti, Ellis Paul, Bob Childers, Terry "Buffalo" Ware and the Red Dirt Rangers.
In April 2008, Rafael released Thirteen Stories High
Thirteen Stories High
Thirteen Stories High is a 2008 album by California-based folk singer-songwriter Joel Rafael. The album's political tone is set by the first track, "This Is My Country", which features David Crosby and Graham Nash on background vocals...
, the first album of original material since Hopper was released in 2000. Thirteen Stories High opens with a simply-worded protest song "This Is My Country," featuring backing vocals by David Crosby
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
and Graham Nash
Graham Nash
Graham William Nash, OBE is an English singer-songwriter known for his light tenor vocals and for his songwriting contributions with the British pop group The Hollies, and with the folk-rock band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Nash is a photography collector and a published photographer...
. Nash said "I wish I had written this song. So powerful and profound - a call from his heart to ours."
Discography
| Year | Title | Record Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Thirteen Stories High Thirteen Stories High Thirteen Stories High is a 2008 album by California-based folk singer-songwriter Joel Rafael. The album's political tone is set by the first track, "This Is My Country", which features David Crosby and Graham Nash on background vocals... |
Inside Inside Recordings Inside Recordings is a Los Angeles, California based independent record label founded by singer-songwriter Jackson Browne in 1999. Browne has stated that the mission of the label is to "create a haven for music that might not find a home in the mainstream." In 2005, Inside Recordings signed a... |
| 2005 | Woodyboye: Songs Of Woody Guthrie And Tales Worth Telling, Vol. 2 | Appleseed |
| 2003 | Woodeye: Songs of Woody Guthrie | Inside |
| 2000 | Hopper | Inside |
| 1996 | Old Wood Barn | Reluctant Angel |
| 1994 | Joel Rafael Band | Reluctant Angel |