Joel Rafael

Inspired by the folk music boom of the early '60s, singer/songwriter Joel Rafael bought a guitar in his teens and began writing songs in the style of Woody Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and Bob Dylan. Born in Chicago but raised in the San Gabriel Valley outside of Los Angeles, Rafael became active in the folk scene of Los Angeles before heading north to the Pacific Northwest in the late '60s. He would eventually return to California, where he settled down in North San Diego County to raise a family. All through the '70s and '80s, Rafael continued to write folk songs and pe...