Joel Mabus (Special Event)

A rare treat is in store when Joel Mabus brings his incredible musicianship to FSGW for a pre-Getaway house concert for FSGW. Hailing from Michigan, Joel has deep traditional-music roots in the Midwest. His great-grandfather, Louis Charles Lee, was a noted Illinois farmhouse fiddler of the 19th century. Most of the following generations were musicians too. When Joel's mother and father came of age in the Great Depression, they took their old-time music on the road as professional entertainers, barnstorming the Midwest.

Joel is carrying on the family tradition, seamlessly blending the old traditions with the new. He?s an astonishingly good guitar and banjo picker and fiddler who can make a single instrument sound like an orchestra when he picks out a Celtic dance tune or an old-timey number. He?s a born storyteller, whose tales can make you laugh or bring tears to your eyes. He?s a fine singer of traditional songs and ballads. He?s a noted songwriter whose material??Hopelessly Midwestern,? ?Touch a Name on the Wall,? ?The Druggist,? and the ?Duct Tape Blues,? to name a few?has been recorded by others and featured in the pages of SingOut! magazine. He?s been a featured performer on A Prairie Home Companion and at festivals too numerous to list. He?s a recording artist with many CDs to his credit.

And he?s coming to Washington! Joel will be with us for the Getaway weekend (see elsewhere on the fsgw.org website) , and to whet our appetites for his music, he?ll be doing a house concert at the Cook?s Treehouse in Laurel on the Thursday evening before the Getaway. Be sure to call Judy and Dennis at (301) 776-4314 to make a reservation.