ALBUM:
Wagoner's Lad
TAYLOR USED:
812-C
SONG CLIPS:
Ollie's Song
28k | 56K
One Day When Now is Gone
28k | 56K
CONTACT INFO:
Sapsucker Records
841 S. NC Hwy 150
Lexington,
NC 27295
E-mail:
pcraver @info ave .net
Web:
http:// web. info ave. net/ ~pc raver /mike .htm
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Fans of the bluegrass string-band revival group the Red Clay Ramblers will remember piano- and guitar-playing singer-songwriter Mike Craver. From '73 to '86, Craver
helped the Ramblers carve out a reputation as authentic keepers of the old-time Appalachian folk music flame, but also as progressive genre-jugglers who fused such
non-traditional instrumentation as horns, along with blues and jazz idioms, into their eclectic sound. The 'Blers' theater background eventually led to work north of
the Mason-Dixon line, scoring and performing in a pair of off-Broadway shows, Diamond Studs and Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind. Craver continued on a post-Ramblers
theater stint in New York, co-authoring and co-starring in two Off-Broadway musicals: Oil City Symphony, which earned Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards; and
Radio Gals, which won the LA Ovation award in '95. Craver also arranged and music-directed the Off-Broadway smash Smoke on the Mountain.
Wagoner's Lad, Craver's second solo recording, reflects time spent back in his native town of Lexington to be with his mother during her terminal illness. Many of the album's
songs were inspired by his mother's rich stories, passed down from her own parents' generation: turn-of-the century tales set against the rural backdrop of Piedmont, North
Carolina and its country crossroads, where the simple surface of rustic life belied an array of harsh realities and star-crossed characters. Craver carries the yarn-spinning
torch masterfully himself. His lyrics glow with narrative color, as he chronicles the forsaken, the cursed, the slowly fading victims of change as time abandons an era; a
reclusive spinster, a tryst between a widow and a drifter, a servant's Gothic account of murderous revenge, a wagoner lad's descent into madness after death snatches his young
wife - each of these accounts come alive as authentic period pieces.
For all the darkness that inhabits Craver's tales, his sweet, delicate tenor beams through the ether. The pristine plaintiveness of his vocal lines is underscored by an elegant
blend of piano, keyboard and acoustic guitar arrangements that dress his glimpse of the past in a swirling contemporary sound that at times calls to mind George Winston. As
showtune composer and arranger, he is a master of dynamics; he can break your heart in a single chord change. This is a collection of crystalline delicacies to be savored
over and over.
"Mike Craver has this amazing ability to write songs of a period that are so perfect and so exact, almost better than the originals."
— Garrison Keillor,
A Prairie Home Companion
"Pardon the sound of one critic gushing, but Wagoner's Lad is the finest disc I've heard this year - bar none."
— Joe Vanderford,
Independent Weekly
"…And his voice…angelic. The truth in his lyrics may hit you like a bolt of lightning, but his voice is more like a gentle rain."
— Ogi Overman,
ESP Magazine,
Greensboro, NC
"…a positive audio image of a beautiful, provoking songwriter's vision. Where so many have failed to bridge the gap between classic and progressive musical styles, Craver
grasps both shores with a powerful understanding of where his music has come from and where it going. He craftily blends classic elements of 19th century bards' tales,
traditional folk storytelling and Irish sounding mood and voice with elegant new age instrumental breaks and composition…"
— Damani Harrison,
co-executive of Hyland Management Music Productions
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