Joe will be teaching 2 classes on Saturday and Sunday of the Retreat
“Songetry” – Poem to Song
Join us for an E-ticket ride upon the pursuit of possibility. You’ll be asked to write a poem to share, jumpstarting a song in 5 minutes! The goal is learning how to write in timed creative movement and spontaneity – while your inner critic is tucked away in the trunk!
You won’t be able to prepare for what we’ll be creating, so just get ready to have fun and be surprised with what you and your friends’ ideas create under pressure. Joe will give you a recipe on how to cradle these poetic puppies in a variety of musical landscapes to explore and connect the intention of word to music.
Artful Arrangements & Production of Your Songs
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sadie will be teaching 2 classes on Saturday and Sunday of the Retreat
Improvising your way into a song: Some songs come from a place of deep introspection and the lashing of teeth over a perfectly consistent rhyme scheme. Alternatively, some songs flow out more intuitively, letting the subconscious draw connections in real time to give us the pieces for a raw and imperfect song! In this workshop we will use audio recording to explore the process of songwriting from the starting point of improvisation. We will experiment with what happens when we loosen the lyrical and melodic reigns and accept what comes out!
Jazz guitar chords! (aka: using extensions and 7th chords to spice up your folk songs): It can be easy to get into root position guitar ruts, or to feel like exploring the neck is too daunting, but it doesn’t have to be! In this workshop we’ll learn simplified 3-finger voicings of movable jazz shapes that add extra beautiful notes to the mix, and sound great in any genre!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Abby will be teaching 2 classes on Saturday and Sunday of the Retreat
Guitar and Music Theory… How to make it fun, and how it can help your songwriting
In this class we will unlock some of the mysteries of chord families, scales/modes, and fretboard theory so you can feel more confident in your playing and more free with how you approach songwriting, improvising, and playing in groups in general.
Songwriting and Meditation
We will start this class with some breath work and a mind, body and heart check in. From there we will pull out lyrics and write a song together as a community.
Meet the Instructors and see their Classes
The 14th Annual Yosemite Songwriting Retreat will be “In-Person”, October 9th – 11th, at The Grove House in Mariposa, CA.
Welcome, and we hope you will join us for the 14th annual IN-PERSON Yosemite Songwriting Retreat on October 9th-11th, 2026 at The Grove House in Mariposa, CA. We have three featured teachers this year; Joe Craven, Sadie Gustafson-Zook and Abby Posner with associate teachers, Gail Dreifus, Dan Gross, and David Budries.
JOE CRAVEN
Our good friend and valued instructor, Joe Craven returns for his 13th season teaching at the Retreat. Joe is an American freestyle folk, world and roots music multi-instrumentalist, singer and educator. He is the Director of RiverTunes Music Camp and a Co-Director of the Wintergrass Youth Academy. He plays a wide variety of string instruments, including fiddle, mandolin, ukulele, tres, cavaquinho, balalaika, as well as percussion, including a pickling jar, a credit card, and a jawbone. Craven is a well known sight at acoustic music festivals and, for many years, was violinist and percussionist for the David Grisman Quintet.[1] He also played percussion in the group Psychograss with fiddler Darol Anger and mandolinist Mike Marshall. Craven lists some of his influences being Jimi Hendrix, dumpster diving, Hermeto Pascoal, thrift stores, Frank Zappa, educator and aesthetician John Dewey, beachcombing, Carl Stalling, Eddie Palmieri, field recordings, Tiny Moore, Los Pleneros De Viente Uno, Darol Anger and The Horseflies.
Craven has played with many notable musicians including Jerry Garcia, Stephane Grappelli, Alison Brown, Rob Ickes and David Lindley. He performs solo and in different sizes and versions of his own projects, most notably The Joe Craven Trio.
Joe will be teaching 2 classes on Saturday and Sunday of the Retreat.
“Songetry” – Poem to Song
Join us for an E-ticket ride upon the pursuit of possibility. You’ll be asked to write a poem to share, jumpstarting a song in 5 minutes! The goal is learning how to write in timed creative movement and spontaneity – while your inner critic is tucked away in the trunk!
You won’t be able to prepare for what we’ll be creating, so just get ready to have fun and be surprised with what you and your friends’ ideas create under pressure. Joe will give you a recipe on how to cradle these poetic puppies in a variety of musical landscapes to explore and connect the intention of word to music.
Artful Arrangements & Production of Your Songs
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
SADIE GUSTOFSON-ZOOK
“She uses her voice with the precision of an instrument, leaping between registers and outlining jazz chords, all with grace and ease…” – No Depression
With a pure and agile voice reminiscent of Joni Mitchell, Sadie Gustafson-Zook’s hummable melodies balance with witty lyrics and intricate guitar playing to create charmingly honest and relatable music. A skilled performer, Sadie’s writing tackles internal and taboo subjects while holding the audience with warmth and levity. Sadie’s songs have been endorsed by some of the most respected songwriting contests in the country, winning the Acorn Theatre’s 2024 Singer Songwriter Competition, Kerrville Folk Festival’s 2022 New Folk Contest (as well as placing as a finalist in 2020), earning second place at the Rocky Mountain Folk Fest’s Songwriter Showcase, and winning first place at the 2022 NewSong + LEAF Songwriting Contest. On Sadie’s most recent album “Where I Wanna Be” (2024), Sadie takes the listener along on an intimate analog-recorded journey as she decides where to call home.
Sadie will be teaching 2 classes on Saturday and Sunday of the Retreat.
Improvising your way into a song: Some songs come from a place of deep introspection and the lashing of teeth over a perfectly consistent rhyme scheme. Alternatively, some songs flow out more intuitively, letting the subconscious draw connections in real time to give us the pieces for a raw and imperfect song! In this workshop we will use audio recording to explore the process of songwriting from the starting point of improvisation. We will experiment with what happens when we loosen the lyrical and melodic reigns and accept what comes out!
Jazz guitar chords! (aka: using extensions and 7th chords to spice up your folk songs): It can be easy to get into root position guitar ruts, or to feel like exploring the neck is too daunting, but it doesn’t have to be! In this workshop we’ll learn simplified 3-finger voicings of movable jazz shapes that add extra beautiful notes to the mix, and sound great in any genre!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
ABBY POSNER
Abby Posner is a genre-defying multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and producer originally from the mountains of Colorado. Recently featured on NPR’s Mountain Stage, Posner captivates audiences with a dynamic sound that blends haunting folk with high-energy Americana and infectious, foot-stomping anthems. Think Chris Thile meets The Lumineers—raw, powerful, and irresistibly engaging.
With music featured across major platforms including Hulu, Netflix, The CW, Freeform, and countless commercials in the US and UK, Posner’s sonic fingerprint is both wide-reaching and instantly recognizable. Her music video Quiet on Sunset was featured on CMT, and she has scored four documentaries, including the award-winning Lady Buds.
A standout performer, Posner has graced the stage at prestigious events like the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival (2024), AmericanaFest (2023), and Folk Alliance International (2022 & 2024). She also appeared in Bank of America’s national ad campaign for Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary, performing “Wagon Wheel” alongside Dom Flemons and Amythyst Kiah.
Her song “Get Loud,” co-written with Ships Have Sailed, earned the Grand Prize at the USA Songwriting Competition and has charted on pop radio, becoming the official hype anthem for the LA Kings hockey team. In 2020, she also won Best Song at the Topanga Fiddle Festival for her track “Blind Spots.”
Signed to Blackbird Record Label in 2022, Posner continues to tour nationally in support of her latest album, Second Chances—a testament to her evolution as a boundary-pushing artist unafraid to blend the personal with the powerful.
Abby will be teaching 2 classes on Saturday and Sunday of the Retreat:
Guitar and Music Theory… How to make it fun, and how it can help your songwriting
In this class we will unlock some of the mysteries of chord families, scales/modes, and fretboard theory so you can feel more confident in your playing and more free with how you approach songwriting, improvising, and playing in groups in general.
Songwriting and Meditation
We will start this class with some breathwork and a mind, body and heart check in. From there we will pull out lyrics and write a song together as a community.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Register Here!
After you attend the FALL 2025 Yosemite LIVE Songwriting Retreat, we REALLY want to hear from you. Please share your thoughts using the form below. Thank you in advance.
Continue reading “How was it for you?”
To apply for a scholarship for the Yosemite Songwriting Retreat, please complete the application form and click the ‘Submit’ button. We will be in touch as soon as possible to let you know if your application has been successful or not. Our funds are limited and we want to help as many people as possible, so any fundraising you can do for yourself is helpful.
Continue reading “~ SCHOLARSHIPS ~”We’re really proud of the live sound at our concerts and open mics. Last year, David Jacobs-Strain commented that he’d never before heard so many acoustic guitars sound like acoustic guitars, and he knows a thing or two about guitar tone! If you’d like to get a better amplified acoustic tone, educator Ava Burns has some tips for you in the video below.
The Yosemite songwriting retreat CD is a compilation of 17 songs written and recorded by participants at the recording sessions we offer during the retreat. This eclectic collection showcases the depth of talent and diversity of styles that make up our creative community. All of the profits from CD sales go to our scholarship fund, which provides financial assistance to people who want to come to the retreat.
Buy Now $15
Free Shipping
By Gail Dreifus
I was coming back from Joe Craven’s” Rivertunes” camp and frankly I wanted more. More chances to hang out with musicians, meet new people and set aside time to write and play music. However, I did not want to drive a long distance again in pursuit of my musical desires so the obvious answer to my passion was to create my own songwriting retreat in my neighborhood. Continue reading “How Did YSR Begin?”
Yosemite Songwriting Retreat 