User:Guruman7/sandbox/Shawn Craver

Shawn Craver is a traditional Appalachian fiddler and post-punk rock-n-roller who began playing a banjo he made from a coffee can as a kid in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia and Western Maryland.

Shawn Craver performs old-time music across the country, from The North Texas Irish Festival and more recently The Kansas State Fiddle Championships.

Early years
Through his teens he played various stringed instruments including the electric guitar, mandolin, and finally the fiddle. Although interested in traditional music, he pursued songwriting and was involved in various bands playing what was called “college rock”. At the same time, he spent hours with his grandmother, Ireta Skipper, learning traditional music. Her father and his twin brother were both fiddlers born in the late 1800s and she would hum the tunes to Shawn. The Skipper Family was and is known for stringed instrument music in the region.

Fiddling Influences in the Potomac Highlands
In the 90s, Shawn made treks back to the mountains and learned from Western Maryland and West Virginia fiddlers like Grover Broadwater, Larry Rush, J.C. Hollis, Patrick Skipper, and younger champion fiddlers like Phillip Birkby.

Composer and Session Musician
In the 1990s, Shawn Craver's compositions were recorded by the budding “young bluegrass” movement and he became known as a versatile multi-instrumentalist. A fiddle tune he wrote called “Angelfire” was recorded on the debut album of The Barbed Wire Cutters, a Washington state band that SPIN Magazine called the “pioneers of the young bluegrass revolt.” Meanwhile, in the Midwest, Shawn played guitar in various bluegrass ensembles including recording guitar with pioneering melodic clawhammer banjoist Dick Kimmel on "Fishing Creek Blues" for Copper Creek Records of Virginia.

Rock-n-Roll
His recent rock-n-roll EP contains seven original songs and made Public Radio 89.1 KMUW's "Best of 2017."