Joel Mabus

Joel Mabus may be called a singer-songwriter, but he doesn’t sound like one. He defies the stereotype. Joel’s the son of a 1930’s old-time fiddle champ & a banjo-pickin’ farm girl, raised on full-throated Holiness singing every Sunday in smalltown Illinois: 105 miles southeast of Mark Twain, 190 miles northwest of Bill Monroe, 110 miles southwest of Burl Ives and just over the river and up the hill from Scott Joplin. That’s where Joel is from.

A National Merit Scholarship took him up north to college during the Vietnam era, where he studied anthropology & literature by day, performing in bars & coffeehouses by night. His palette ranges from mountain banjo to jazz guitar — from sensitive introspection to wicked satire. As both picker & poet, he’s toured most of North America over the past 40 years. Among his honors: the Detroit Music Awards Hall of Fame in 2000, the inaugural Lantern Bearer Award from Folk Alliance Region Midwest (FARM) in 2006.

With 27 albums of original & traditional music, Joel’s latest is 2019’s Time & Truth — a return to his songwriting craft. Cornell Folk Song Society wrote: “Joel Mabus is a free-ranging fretboard genius and funny, deep songwriter whose warm voice, sly humor, and musicianship sweep audiences along for the ride… in a gentle, easy manner, he may lull his audience into a relaxed state, then roll them on the floor with laughter or make them sit up and think.”