The Evangenitals, founded by playwright/director Juli Crockett and opera, jazz & gospel singer Lisa Dee are an alt-country/Americana love revolution made flesh for your listening pleasure. On a quixotic crusade in the key of life hell-bent on breaking hearts open, they are a genre-bending, ever-creating force of nature. 

The Evangenitals boast one of the most eclectic resumes in the indie music world. As live performers, they’ve built a fiercely loyal following through a thousand shows at clubs, coffee houses and festivals throughout the world (including Scotland’s prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Their shows are notable for music that can be bawdy and rollicking in one moment, and, in the next, sufficiently mysterious and haunting to make the rowdiest of beer brawlers pause, turn toward the stage and listen. 

The group’s current lineup consists of principal writer/vocalist Juli Crockett, gospel/jazz singer Lisa Dee, keyboardist Michael Feldman, bassist Joey Maramba, Andrea Baker on fiddle, Daniel Mark on mandolin, and Danny Graziani on fiddle and harmonica.

Ranging from truck-stop lullabies to Klezmer-punk-jazz, ballads & barn-burners to hillbilly stomp, citing influences from the new-wave intelligentsia of the Talking Heads to the archetypal fire of Johnny Cash, all welded together with the mutant masterminds of Ween: The jukebox at the Mad Hatters tea party is The Evangenitals.

[or, the whale] (Delere Press)

My original play, [or, the whale], inspired by Melville's Moby Dick, debuted at the Singapore Book Fair on November 14th, 2014. Published by Delere Press, Singapore. Illustrations by Ivy Maya. 

Get it on Amazon.

Recently produced by the Portland Experimental Theater Ensemble, under the direction of Obie-award winning scenic designer Peter Ksander. 

Some great reviews of the PETE production: 

In Search of the Great White.... Leg

Call Me PETE

Experience Captain Ahab's Madness in Portland Experimental Theater Ensemble's [or, the whale]

I have started a Patreon page, where supporters can pledge various amounts to help me create lots of awesome things (such as plays, songs, and videos) and get more intimately involved in my creative process. Think Kickstarter but for ongoing artist output, not just a one time thing.  

From my Patreon Page: (https://www.patreon.com/julicrockett)

I make a lot of art. In the couple years, I released a new album with The Evangenitals, made an awesome music video, had my 2nd book published, performed with the legendary folk singer Jim Kweskin, construction was finished on my hubby's new music studio in the backyard, and somehow I managed to work a day job and help raise a toddler in the meantime with my husband. 

Currently, I'm mounting new theater pieces, recording the next Evangenitals album, and composing several new plays, still while working a day job and raising the aforementioned toddler. 

This next album is going to be immense. We're going to be recording a TON of material, and not necessarily releasing it all to the general public. By becoming a Patron, you will get to hear it all: the good, the bad, and the filthy. Furthermore, I'm going to be developing a stage show (that also involves the Evangenitals), writing a lot of crazy stuff, making weird videos, and performing out and about in the world. I'm also producing my first album for another great artist, co-writing cool material, and collaborating on a lot of great projects with amazing people. It's going to be an action-packed year. 

As a Patron of my Arts, you get a front row seat to all of it. You can choose to give whatever amount you can, set a monthly max so that if I have a super productive spurt you won't get charged more than you planned, and change your settings anytime. 

I tried to make the "rewards" of patronage as interesting as possible, from love letter to stick figure drawings to candid phone memo recording of humiliating first ideas for songs. If there's other perks and privileges that would entice you to give --- let me know! We can shake this thing up as we go! 

Check it out: Patreon.com/JuliCrockett

Alabama-born songwriter Juli Crockett and her best friend Lisa Dee have been creating beautiful harmonies together for almost 10 years. Their voices combine in a way that many have said only those of siblings should, therefore they coined themselves the Crockett Sisters. 

With fierce fiddler Andrea Baker and a shifting cast of Crockett Family characters at their side, they deliver incredible performances featuring songs old and new, from ballads to barn-burners, all centered around the mind-blowing alchemy of two voices melding into musical magic. 

The Crockett Sisters frequently can been seen performing with folk legend Jim Kweskin of Jug Band fame, as well as in their *other* band, the sensational alt.country/Americana band The Evangenitals.

Word on the Street: 

"If you get a chance to see these gals you'd be a fool not to. They put on one of the best parties you can go to. Great crowd, good music and a sure-fire fun time. I'm a believer..." (Front Porch Musings) 

"Transports you back to a time when the music came from front porches and folk gatherings that allowed for the songwriting to take center stage." (Today's Country Magazine) 

"Their sound is a chimera of American music, a blend of country, bluegrass, jazz and rock, with soul-fondling lyrics, which might leave your skin wet from dancing and your eyes dripping tears of joy all in the same evening." (Monterey County Weekly) 

“When Juli Crockett and Lisa Dee come together vocally they deliver a solid harmony that captures the mood of the song and lyric perfectly." (Today's Country Magazine) 

I frequently get to play music with the legendary folk singer Jim Kweskin. I can't really believe it myself. 

Jim Kweskin is probably best known as a singer and bandleader, but he also created one of the bedrock guitar styles of the folk revival, adapting the ragtime-blues fingerpicking of artists like Mississippi John Hurt and Pink Anderson to the more complex chords of pop and jazz. Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band was the original "Americana" band, playing everything from classic blues to hillbilly country, ragtime, jazz, and rock 'n' roll. Kweskin has maintained a remarkably consistent musical vision since his jug band days, continuing to explore traditional folk and blues with the sophisticated sensibility of a jazz musician and traditional jazz with the communal simplicity of a folk artist. 

Alabama-born Juli Crockett is a bona fide Renaissance woman: singer, songwriter, playwright, theater director, undefeated professional boxer and amateur champion, ordained minister, Doctor of Philosophy, and leader of the alt-country/Avant Americana genre-defying band The Evangenitals, as well as the Crockett Sisters. (They’re the same band – you choose which name you prefer)

The teaming of Jim Kweskin and Juli Crockett is the happy collision of classic and contemporary Americana music. Together, Kweskin and Crockett performances are celebrations of virtuoso musicianship seasoned with humor and exuberance. 

Frequently joined by super mandolin player Daniel Mark (Dustbowl Revival) and wildly imaginative bassist Joey Maramba (Rickie Lee Jones, John Cale), Jim and Juli have a great time singing both old jazzy, folky favorites mixed in with Juli's original (and occasionally irreverent) compositions. Take a wild ride through history and into the future of folk with Kweskin and Crockett.

Completed an Artist in Residency at CalArts (November 30th-Dec 19th 2015) to develop a new play, Saint Simone, with composer Jeremy Zuckerman. 

Saint Simone, an ecstatic meditation based on the life and sufferings of French philosopher and mystic, Simone Weil. Saint Simone engages the stark prospects and fugitive pleasures of daily life in an era of unprecedented wealth inequality and environmental degradation – a clear-sighted indictment of the precarious world we inhabit in 2015. The play centers on a cult of women dedicated to Simone Weil’s canonization before a Kafkaesque ecclesiastic court. A vicious, transgressive gender war ensues in which a series of miracles are cross-examined, while visitations, compulsions, confessions, and leaps of faith unfold and overlap. 

In 2011, I composed a theme song for my friend Nirvan Mullick's short doc about a cool kid named Caine Monroy. You won't believe what happened next... 

About Caine’s Arcade

Caine’s Arcade is a short film by Nirvan Mullick about a 9 year old boy’s handmade cardboard arcade, located in his dad’s auto parts store in East Los Angeles. The film inspired a global movement to foster creativity in kids, leading to the launch of theImagination Foundation and an annual Global Cardboard Challenge.

Backstory 

In 2011, at the age of 9, Caine Monroy spent his summer vacation building an elaborate DIY cardboard arcade in his dad’s used auto parts store in East Los Angeles.

Caine loved arcades, and dreamed of the day he would have lots of customers come play. He spent months building and preparing his arcade, perfecting his game design, making displays for prizes (his toy cars), designing elaborate security systems for his Fun Pass, making his own Caine’s Arcade STAFF shirt, and even hand labeling paper-lunch-bags for customers to carry home prizes. However, his dad’s autoparts store (located in an industrial part of Boyle Heights) received very little foot traffic, so Caine’s chances of getting a customer were very small, and the few walk-in customers that came through were always in too much of a hurry to get their auto part to stop to play Caine’s Arcade. Caine never had a single customer, but Caine never gave up.

On the last day of summer, by chance, a man named Nirvan Mullick walked into Caine’s dad’s auto parts store to buy a door handle for his ’96 Corolla. Caine asked Nirvan if he would like to play the arcade. Curious, Nirvan stopped to ask Caine how the arcade worked. Caine explained that for $1, Nirvan could get two turns to play, or for $2 he could get a Fun Pass (with 500 turns). Nirvan bought the Fun Pass.

Nirvan became Caine’s first and only customer, and he loved Caine’s Arcade. It turned out that Nirvan was also a filmmaker, and he came back to ask Caine’s dad if he could make a short film about Caine’s Arcade. It was at that poing Nirvan  learned that he had been Caine’s first and only customer. Nirvan decided to organize a surprise flash mob of customers to come play Caine’s Arcade, and make Caine’s day.

Words can’t describe Caine’s response – so watch the film. After the flashmob, Caine told his dad that that was the best day of his whole life.

FROM A MOVIE TO A MOVEMENT (POST-FILM UPDATE):
Caine’s Arcade  was  posted online on April 9th, 2012, and became an instant viral phenomenon. The film received over 1 million views in the first 24 hours, and trended worldwide on twitter. As part of the film, Nirvan  set up a scholarship fund for Caine with an initial goal of raising $25,000 for Caine. The first day the film was posted, we raised over $60,000 for Caine’s Scholarship Fund! The next day, we had raised over $110,000. Kids all over the world were also inspired to create cardboard games and creations. Inspired by the response, Two days after the film was posted, Nirvan decided to start a non-profit to find, foster, and fund creativity and entrepreneurship in more kids like Caine. 5 days later, the Goldhirsh Foundation awarded us a $250,000 Challenge Grant to help start the Imagination Foundation, which  launched an annual Global Cardboard Challenge that engages over 100,000 kids in creative play each year!

Watch Nirvan’s follow-up film: “Caine’s Arcade 2 : From a Movie to a Movement”

I am currently the President of the LA Chapter of the Content Creators Coalition. 

The Content Creators Coalition is a membership based, artist-run non-profit advocacy based group representing creators in the digital landscape. The need for creators of “cultural content” to develop our own collective voices is greater than ever in today’s challenging business environment. 

http://www.c3action.org/

LA Chapter: http://www.c3action.org/#!los-angeles/c1nq5

How lucky am I to be married to Michael Feldman. Pretty lucky. He's pretty lucky, too, so it balances out. Mixer, Composer, Pianist, Recording/Engineering instructor.. this guy has it all. And now we have this absolutely incredible recording and mixing studio in our backyard. 

Mike produced and mixed The Evangenitals' Moby Dick record, and most of the new music that we're putting out these days. 

Learn more about Michael Feldman at Sound43.