Album Notes

The wait is over. After a decade of recordings that explore traditional musc, or blend the old with the new, Joel Mabus is back with an album of all-new all-original songs.

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A one-off in the folk world, Joel Mabus defies any easy pigeon-hole. His palette ranges from mountain banjo to jazz guitar -- from sensitive introspection to wicked satire.

While Mabus may be termed a singer-songwriter, he doesn't sound much like one. He's the son of a 1930's old-time fiddle champ and a banjo-picking farm girl. His performing career began in college in the 1970’s where he studied anthropology and literature by day and played coffeehouses by night. One critic writes, "Joel Mabus knows his way around the English language and American culture just as well as he knows his way around a fretboard.” [Capital Times]

Born in 1953 in the southern Illinois town of Belleville, Joel has recorded 20 solo albums of original and traditional music since his recording career started in 1978. The Banjo Monologues, a unique blend of old-time banjo and storytelling, placed #6 in the Folk Radio charts for 2007, and netted him a nomination for traditional folk act of the year by Folk Alliance International. In 2008, Joel revisited & regrooved some of his earlier originals & audience favorites with Retold.

After several projects that feature traditional music — or blend the traditional with original, No Worries Now is Joel’s first album in a decade of all-new, all-original songs.

“Very quietly and under way too many people’s radar, Joel Mabus has spent the past 25 years building one of the most impressive bodies of work spanning both traditional and contemporary folk music.”
Mike Regenstreif
Sing Out!

“It’s hard to imagine another artist on the folk scene who combines the same concise, deceptively understated, lyrical insight and sometimes devastating wit with such world-class instrumental prowess.”
Chris Rietz
Musichound Folk

“He has perfected the art of being entertaining without pandering, he teaches without lecturing, and does it all with great style.”
Vancouver Folk Festival

“A fellow with the most natural and easy sort of voice I’ve heard in a long time.”
Garrison Keillor
A Prairie Home Companion

“Mabus is everything a modern string player ought to be: versatile, innovative, tasty, and funny.”
The Twin Cities Reader