After a series of events including California, trains, and Indian reservations, Shawn Craver came to Wichita in October of 2008. An unexpected emergency left him with a difficult choice to make about his life and shortly after, he played fiddle for the first time and founded the band Raging Sea. As Raging Sea progressed, Shawn picked up his original instrument, the guitar, in a post-punk/folk style that took him back to his beginnings as a rocker. His current project is the duo known as The DeVeils and features a sound described as “dark folk” or “melancholy” with cellist Kylie Brown.
My name is Shawn Craver my current project is a duo called The DeVeils. That’s me on guitar and vocals and writing the words. On cello we have Kylie Brown. We’re focusing on kind of dark songs. Our songs range from love songs—love gone right, love gone wrong, and love and the supernatural.
I really like the greats—like The Beatles. The Lennon and McCartney stuff. And I got into B.B. King and the blues.
Because I grew up in the Appalachians I knew how to play bluegrass and I started getting into bluegrass just because I could it, just because it was everywhere where I grew up. So I started playing bluegrass and what I really like about bluegrass is the themes. It’s kind of epic. You know, songs about wandering through the graveyard, and lost love, and pain, and the devil. Good things like that.
