Eric Von Schmidt (May 28 1931 — February 2 2007) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer-songwriterA singer–songwriter is a musician who writes, composes and sings their own material including lyrics and melodies. They often provide the sole accompaniment to an entire composition or song, typically using a guitar or piano...
associated with the folk/blues revival of the 1960s and a key part of the East Coast
folk musicThe term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer...
scene that included
Bob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet and painter who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was, at first, an informal chronicler and then an apparently reluctant figurehead of social unrest...
and
Joan BaezJoan Chandos Baez is a folk singer and songwriter known for her highly individual vocal style...
. He was known mostly for his associations with Bob Dylan during the latter's early career.
Von Schmidt's father,
Harold von SchmidtHarold von Schmidt was an American illustrator who specialized inmagazine interior illustrations. Born in Alameda, California in 1893, he was orphaned at the age of five. After a year in an orphanage, he went to live with his grandfather, who had been a forty-niner. As a youth von Schmidt worked...
, was a Western painter who did illustrations for the
Saturday Evening Post.
Eric Von Schmidt (May 28 1931 — February 2 2007) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer-songwriterA singer–songwriter is a musician who writes, composes and sings their own material including lyrics and melodies. They often provide the sole accompaniment to an entire composition or song, typically using a guitar or piano...
associated with the folk/blues revival of the 1960s and a key part of the East Coast
folk musicThe term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer...
scene that included
Bob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet and painter who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was, at first, an informal chronicler and then an apparently reluctant figurehead of social unrest...
and
Joan BaezJoan Chandos Baez is a folk singer and songwriter known for her highly individual vocal style...
. He was known mostly for his associations with Bob Dylan during the latter's early career.
Background and associations with Dylan
Von Schmidt's father,
Harold von SchmidtHarold von Schmidt was an American illustrator who specialized inmagazine interior illustrations. Born in Alameda, California in 1893, he was orphaned at the age of five. After a year in an orphanage, he went to live with his grandfather, who had been a forty-niner. As a youth von Schmidt worked...
, was a Western painter who did illustrations for the
Saturday Evening Post. Von Schmidt began selling his own artwork while still a teenager. Following a stint in the army, he won a Fulbright scholarship to study art in
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence...
. He moved to
CambridgeCambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, a nexus of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Notably, Cambridge is home to two internationally prominent...
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
, in 1957, where he painted and became the center of the coffeehouse scene.
Von Schmidt shared his large repertory of traditional music, passing them along to new performers who were developing a more modern version of folk music. He influenced
Tom RushTom Rush is a noted folk and blues singer, songwriter and recording artist.- Background :...
, with whom he revived and arranged the traditional song "Wasn’t That a Mighty Storm?," about the 1900 hurricane that destroyed Galveston,
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
. When he met Dylan, the two traded
harmonicaThe harmonica is a free reed wind instrument which is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes. The pressure caused by blowing or drawing air into the reed chambers causes a reed or multiple reeds to vibrate up and down creating sound...
licks, drank red wine and played croquet. Dylan eagerly absorbed von Schmidt's voluminous knowledge of music, including folk, country and the blues. "I sang [Dylan] a bunch of songs, and, with that spongelike mind of his, he remembered almost all of them when he got back to New York," von Schmidt said in
The Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993. Its chief print rival is the Boston Herald....
.
Von Schmidt is widely (and erroneously) credited as the author of the
songA song is a metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, especially one in rhymed stanzas; a lyric; a ballad....
, "
Baby, Let Me Follow You Down"Baby, Let Me Follow You Down" is a traditional folk song popularised in the late 1950s by blues guitarist Eric Von Schmidt. The song is best known from its appearance on Bob Dylan's debut album Bob Dylan.-Early years of the song:...
", which was for years a staple of Dylan's musical catalogue. In a spoken introduction to the song on his 1962 self-titled debut
albumAn album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at live concerts or on their websites.-...
, Dylan mentioned that he first "learned" the song from "Rick von Schmidt" and told of meeting him "in the green pastures of
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
." In fact, von Schmidt had adapted the song from
Blind Boy FullerBlind Boy Fuller was an American blues guitarist and vocalist. He was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists with rural Black Americans, a group that also included Blind Blake, Josh White, and Buddy Moss.-Life and career:Fulton Allen was born in Wadesboro, North Carolina...
and credited
Reverend Gary DavisReverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, was a blues and gospel singer and guitarist. His unique finger-picking style influenced many other artists and his students in New York included Stefan Grossman, David Bromberg, Roy Book Binder, Woody Mann, Nick Katzman, Dave Van Ronk, Tom Winslow, and...
as author of "three-quarters" of the song. In 1979, he co-wrote a book of the same name about the Cambridge scene.
Among his best known and covered original compositions is the song "Joshua Gone Barbados" which depicts
Ebenezer JoshuaEbenezer Theodore Joshua was the chief minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines from 1956 to 1967.Joshua was born in Kingstown, Saint Vincent, which would later become the capital of the country...
the head of labor union and head of the government of
Saint Vincent (island)Saint Vincent is a volcanic island in the Caribbean, the largest island of the chain called Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It is located in the Caribbean Sea, between Saint Lucia and Grenada. It is composed of partially submerged volcanic mountains...
vacationing during a time of labor strife leading indirectly to the deaths of three men. Von Schmidt did not bother to get his history straight and thereby combined tax revolt incident from 1936, complaints about Joshua's closure of the sugar mill in 1964 and attendance at an agronomy conference in Barbados funded by the United States.
In 1963, von Schmidt and
Richard FariñaRichard George Fariña was an American writer and folksinger. He was a figure in both the counterculture scene of the early- to mid-sixties as well as the budding folk rock scene of the same era....
recordedSound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
's
Dobell's Jazz Record77 Records was a British record label setup in 1957 by Doug Dobell, who used to run the famous Dobell's Jazz Record Shop at 77 Charing Cross Road, London...
store, with Dylan on harmonica. Two years later,
The Folk Blues of Eric von Schmidt appeared atop a pile of
recordsA gramophone record, commonly known as phonograph record, vinyl record, or simply record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed modulated spiral groove usually starting near the periphery and ending near the centre of the disc...
on the
coverAn album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially-released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
of Dylan's album
Bringing It All Back HomeBringing It All Back Home is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's fifth studio album, released in March 1965 by Columbia Records.The album is divided into an electric and an acoustic side. On side one of the original LP, Dylan is backed by an electric rock and roll band - a move that further alienated him...
.
In the liner notes for Von Schmidt's 1969 Smash album, "Who Knocked The Brains Out Of The Sky?" (SRS 67124), notes which also appeared on a cover sticker for Von Schmidt's 1972 Poppy album "2nd Right 3rd Row", Dylan wrote:
- Of course we had heard about Eric Von Schmidt for many years. The name itself had become a password. Eventually, after standing in line to meet him, there it was -- his doorstep, a rainy day, and he greeted his visitors, inviting them in. He was told how much they liked Grizzly Bear [a von Schmidt song] and he then invited the whole bunch to the club, where he was about to perform the thing live. "C'mon down to the club" he said -- "I'm about to perform it live." We accepted the invitation. And that is what his record is. An invitation. An invitation to the glad, mad, sad, biting, exciting, frightening, crabby, happy, enlightening, hugging, chugging world of Eric Von Schmidt. For here is a man who can sing the bird off the wire and the rubber off the tire. He can separate the men from the boys and the note from the noise. The bridle from the saddle and the cow from the cattle. He can play the tune of the moon. The why of the sky and the commotion from the ocean. Yes he can.
Artistic career
Von Schmidt had a parallel career as a
painterPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting. Paintings may have for their support such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, clay or concrete...
, and created album covers for Baez,
Cisco HoustonGilbert Vandine 'Cisco' Houston was an American folk singer who is closely associated with Woody Guthrie due to their extensive history of recording together....
,
John RenbournJohn Renbourn is an English guitarist and songwriter. He is possibly best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo career both before, during and after that band's existence .While most commonly labelled...
,
Reverend Gary DavisReverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, was a blues and gospel singer and guitarist. His unique finger-picking style influenced many other artists and his students in New York included Stefan Grossman, David Bromberg, Roy Book Binder, Woody Mann, Nick Katzman, Dave Van Ronk, Tom Winslow, and...
,
GeoffGeoff Muldaur is a founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a member of Paul Butterfield's Better Days, and an accomplished solo guitarist, singer, and songwriter.-Career:...
and
Maria MuldaurMaria Muldaur is a folk-blues singer who was part of the folk music revival of the early 1960s...
, the Blue Velvet Band,
Jackie WashingtonJackie Washington was a Canadian blues musician.Born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Washington became Canada's first black disk jockey in 1948, at CHML in Hamilton....
and for
James BaldwinJames Baldwin may refer to:*James Fowle Baldwin , American civil engineer*James Harris Baldwin , U.S. federal judge*James Baldwin *James Baldwin...
's readings. In the final 30 years of his life, von Schmidt recorded only two records, and instead focused on his art career.
Four years before his death, von Schmidt painted his last epic of American history. The canvas' subject was of Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery honoring its bicentennial. He also continued work on his "Giants of the Blues" series of paintings.
Awards and legacy
Von Schmidt was known for an exuberant musical style that he liked to apply to American folk classics. "Eric's got that wild spirit, and he doesn't water the music down for polite society,"
Ramblin' Jack ElliottRamblin' Jack Elliott is an American folk performer.-Biography:Born in Brooklyn, New York, Elliott grew up Jewish and inspired by the rodeos at Madison Square Garden, wanted to be a cowboy. Though encouraged to follow his father's example and become a surgeon, Elliott rebelled, running away from...
told The Boston Globe in 1996.
Von Schmidt's music has been recorded by
Travis MacRaeTravis MacRae is a Canadian singer/songwriter known for his folk music, for his accomplished guitar and harmonica playing, and for his rough, somewhat Southern-styled vocals...
and
Jeff BuckleyJeffrey Scott Buckley , raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician...
. In 2000, the same year he was diagnosed with
throat cancerThroat cancer may refer to:*Head and neck cancer, a group of biologically similar cancers originating from the upper aerodigestive tract, including the lip, oral cavity , nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses, pharynx, and larynx...
, he was honored with the ASCAP Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award at an event which featured a reunion of the
Jim KweskinJim Kweskin is the founder of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, with Fritz Richmond, Mel Lyman, and Geoff and Maria Muldaur...
Jug Band including
Fritz RichmondFritz Richmond was an American musician and recording engineer. Fritz Richmond was considered the foremost washtub bassist in the world, and was also the most successful professional jug player....
.
In 1997, he won a
Grammy AwardThe Grammy Awards —or Grammys—are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry...
for his work on a
compilation albumA compilation album is an album featuring tracks from multiple recording artists, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, source or subject matter...
entitled
Anthology of American Folk Music, Vol. 1-3. He painted up until his death, and completed an epic
muralA mural is any piece of artwork painted directly on a wall, ceiling, or other large permanent surface.-History:Murals of sorts date to Upper Paleolithic times such as the paintings in the Chauvet Cave in Ardèche department of southern France...
of the
Battle of the AlamoThe Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal point in the Texas Revolution. Following a twelve-day siege, Mexican troops under the President of Mexico General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission in San Antonio de Béxar . All but two of the Texian defenders were killed...
.
Von Schmidt was twice
divorceDivorce or dissolution of marriage is the final termination of a marriage, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between two persons...
d and had two
daughterA daughter is a female offspring; a girl, woman, or female animal in relation to her parents. The male equivalent is a son. Analogously the name is used on several areas to show relations between groups or elements.-Plants:...
s. He suffered a
strokeA stroke is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by thrombosis or embolism or due to a hemorrhage...
in August 2006, and died seven months later, aged 75.
Albums
| Year |
Title |
Album details |
| 1961 |
Rolf Cahn & Eric Von Schmidt, Folkways Records Folkways Records is a record label that documents folk and world music. It is now owned by the Smithsonian Institution.-History:The Folkways Records & Service Co. was founded by Moses Asch and Marian Distler in 1948 in New York City. Asch sought to record and document sound from the entire world....
, 1961 |
Rolf Cahn Rolf Cahn was a folk musician, martial arts teacher, author, and social activist. Born in Germany, he and his family, who were Jewish, fled from Adolf Hitler's oppression and arrived in the United States in 1937. They settled in Detroit, Michigan...
and Eric Von Schmidt, both on guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
and vocalsSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
. |
| 1963 |
Dick Fariña & Eric Von Schmidt, Folklore Records, 1963. |
Richard Fariña Richard George Fariña was an American writer and folksinger. He was a figure in both the counterculture scene of the early- to mid-sixties as well as the budding folk rock scene of the same era....
, dulcimerDulcimer may refer to two types of musical instruments:* Appalachian dulcimer, a fretted, plucked musical instrument which is also referred to as a "mountain dulcimer," "lap dulcimer" "hog fiddle," or just a "dulcimer"...
, harmonicaThe harmonica is a free reed wind instrument which is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes. The pressure caused by blowing or drawing air into the reed chambers causes a reed or multiple reeds to vibrate up and down creating sound...
and vocalsSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
; Eric Von Schmidt, guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
and vocalsSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
; Ethan Singer, fiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, including the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, mandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It is descended from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family...
and guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
; and Blind Boy Grunt (Bob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet and painter who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was, at first, an informal chronicler and then an apparently reluctant figurehead of social unrest...
), harmonicaThe harmonica is a free reed wind instrument which is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes. The pressure caused by blowing or drawing air into the reed chambers causes a reed or multiple reeds to vibrate up and down creating sound...
and backup vocalsA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
.
- Recorded at Dobell’s Jazz Record Shop, London, January 14-15, 1963.
|
| 1963 |
The Folk Blues of Eric Von Schmidt, Prestige/Folklore Prestige Records was founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The label's name was initially New Jazz, but changed to Prestige Records the next year. Its catalog contains a significant number of jazz classics, including renowned works by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk and many...
, 1963 |
* Eric Von Schmidt, guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
and vocalsSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
, with Geoff MuldaurGeoff Muldaur is a founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a member of Paul Butterfield's Better Days, and an accomplished solo guitarist, singer, and songwriter.-Career:...
, guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
; Robert L. Jones, guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
and vocalsSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
; and Fritz RichmondFritz Richmond was an American musician and recording engineer. Fritz Richmond was considered the foremost washtub bassist in the world, and was also the most successful professional jug player....
, washtub bassThe washtub bass, or "gutbucket", is a stringed instrument used in American folk music that uses a metal washtub as a resonator. Although it is possible for a washtub bass to have four or more strings and tuning pegs, traditional washtub basses have a single string whose pitch is adjusted by...
. |
| 1964 |
Eric Sings Von Schmidt, Prestige Records Prestige Records was founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The label's name was initially New Jazz, but changed to Prestige Records the next year. Its catalog contains a significant number of jazz classics, including renowned works by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk and many...
, 1964 |
* Eric Von Schmidt, guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
and vocalsSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
, with Geoff MuldaurGeoff Muldaur is a founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a member of Paul Butterfield's Better Days, and an accomplished solo guitarist, singer, and songwriter.-Career:...
, guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
, and Mel LymanMel Lyman was an American cult leader and musician.-Musician:Lyman grew up in California and Oregon...
, harmonicaThe harmonica is a free reed wind instrument which is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes. The pressure caused by blowing or drawing air into the reed chambers causes a reed or multiple reeds to vibrate up and down creating sound...
. |
| 1969 |
Who Knocked the Brains Out of The Sky?, Smash RecordsSmash Records is an American record label. It was founded in 1961 as a subsidiary of Mercury Records by Mercury executive Shelby Singleton and run by Singleton with Charlie Fach. Fach took over after Singleton left Mercury in 1966...
, 1969 |
* Eric Von Schmidt, guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
and vocalsSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
, with David Blue, guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
; James BurtonJames Burton is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 , Burton has also been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame...
, dobroDobro is a trade name now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...
; Mitch Greenhill and Louis SheltonLouis Shelton, also known as Louie Shelton, is an American musician and music producer, born in Little Rock, Arkansas, April 6, 1941....
, guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
; Make Lang, keyboardsA keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include various types of organs as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
; Steve Lefever and Lyle Ritz, bass guitarThe electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum....
; and Abe Mills and Earl PalmerEarl Cyril Palmer was an American drummer and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.Palmer played on many recording sessions, including Little Richard's first several albums and Tom Waits' 1978 album Blue Valentine...
, drums. |
| 1972 |
2nd Right, 3rd Row, Poppy Records, 1972 |
* Eric Von Schmidt, guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
, electric pianoAn electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electronic signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical...
, kazooThe kazoo is a wind instrument with a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when one vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton—a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane.-Playing:...
and vocalsSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
, with Mune Blackburn, tenor sax; Paul ButterfieldPaul Butterfield was an American blues vocalist and harmonica player who gained international recognition in part as one of the acts performing at the original Woodstock Festival...
, harmonicaThe harmonica is a free reed wind instrument which is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes. The pressure caused by blowing or drawing air into the reed chambers causes a reed or multiple reeds to vibrate up and down creating sound...
; Amos GarrettAmos Garrett is an Canadian guitarist and performer. He is best known for his guitar solo on Maria Muldaur's hit record, "Midnight at the Oasis".-Career:...
, bass guitarThe electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum....
, guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
, mandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It is descended from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family...
, tromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
, bottleneck guitar and bird calls; Garth HudsonEric Garth Hudson is a Canadian musician. As the organist and keyboardist for Canadian-American rock group The Band, he was a principal architect of the group's unique sound. A master of the Lowrey organ, Hudson's orchestral tone sense and style anticipated many of the sonic advances of the...
, organThe organ is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet...
; Ben KeithBen Keith is an American pedal steel guitarist, from Bowling Green, Kentucky. He worked as a session musician in Nashville in the late 1950s and 1960s. He is most famous for his work with Neil Young, both in stage shows and on albums such as Harvest, Tonight's the Night, Comes A Time, Harvest...
, dobroDobro is a trade name now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...
; Campo Malaqua, accordionThe accordion is a portable box-shaped musical instrument of the hand-held bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox...
; Geoff MuldaurGeoff Muldaur is a founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a member of Paul Butterfield's Better Days, and an accomplished solo guitarist, singer, and songwriter.-Career:...
, guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
; Billy MundiBilly Mundi is an American drummer, who has played a multitude of sessions and been a member of countless bands, most notably The Mothers of Invention and Rhinoceros. He was also the drummer on the Todd Rundgren session for Hello It's Me...
and Greg Thomas, percussionA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound by being hit with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration...
; Harry "Butch" Reed, clarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet...
; and Jim Rooney, backup vocals.
Liner notesLiner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes....
by Bob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet and painter who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was, at first, an informal chronicler and then an apparently reluctant figurehead of social unrest...
and Eric von Schmidt.
Cover art by Milton GlaserMilton Glaser is a graphic designer, best known for the I Love New York logo, his "Bob Dylan" poster, the "DC bullet" logo used by DC Comics from 1977 to 2005, and the "Brooklyn Brewery" logo. He also founded New York Magazine with Clay Felker in 1968.-Biography:Glaser was educated at New York...
. |
| 1977 |
Eric Von Schmidt & the Cruel Family, Philo Records Philo Records was a record label founded in 1945 by the brothers Eddie, Leo, and Ira Messner. Later its name changed to Aladdin Records....
, 1977 |
* Eric Von Schmidt, guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
and vocalsSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
, with a 10-member folk-rock band that included Geoff MuldaurGeoff Muldaur is a founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a member of Paul Butterfield's Better Days, and an accomplished solo guitarist, singer, and songwriter.-Career:...
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| 1995 |
Baby Let Me Lay It On You, Gazell, 1995 |
* Eric Von Schmidt, guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
and vocalsSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
with Chance BrowneRobert "Chance" Browne is an American musician, painter, and cartoonist. He was born in New York City.After his father Dik Browne died in 1989, Browne took over drawing the family comic strip Hi and Lois. The comic is syndicated throughout the United States and stars the characters Hi, Lois, Dot,...
, guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
; Samuel ChartersSamuel Charters is an American music historian, writer, record producer, musician, and poet...
, tambourineThe tambourine or Marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils"...
and jugThe jug as a musical instrument reached its height of popularity in the 1920s, when jug bands, such as Cannon's Jug Stompers were popular.The eponymous jug is just that: an empty jug played with the mouth...
; and Paul GeremiaPaul Geremia is an American blues singer and acoustic guitarist.Geremia recorded his first album in 1968, having been significantly influenced by both the rural blues tradition and the folk music revival of the 1960s...
, slide guitarSlide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide is in reference to the sliding motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides, which were the necks of glass bottles...
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| 1972 |
Living on the Trail, Poppy Records, 1972 (unreleased), and Tomato Music, 2002 |
* Eric Von Schmidt, bass guitarThe electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum....
, guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
and vocalsSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
, with Paul ButterfieldPaul Butterfield was an American blues vocalist and harmonica player who gained international recognition in part as one of the acts performing at the original Woodstock Festival...
, harmonicaThe harmonica is a free reed wind instrument which is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes. The pressure caused by blowing or drawing air into the reed chambers causes a reed or multiple reeds to vibrate up and down creating sound...
; Bobby CharlesBobby Charles is an American singer and songwriter.An ethnic Cajun, Charles grew up listening to Cajun music and the country and western music of Hank Williams...
and Rick DankoRichard Clare "Rick" Danko was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band.-Early years :...
, backup vocals; Jim Colegrove and Billy Rich, bass guitarThe electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum....
; Amos GarrettAmos Garrett is an Canadian guitarist and performer. He is best known for his guitar solo on Maria Muldaur's hit record, "Midnight at the Oasis".-Career:...
, bass guitarThe electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum....
, guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
, tromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
, slide guitarSlide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide is in reference to the sliding motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides, which were the necks of glass bottles...
, mandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It is descended from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family...
, backup vocals; Garth HudsonEric Garth Hudson is a Canadian musician. As the organist and keyboardist for Canadian-American rock group The Band, he was a principal architect of the group's unique sound. A master of the Lowrey organ, Hudson's orchestral tone sense and style anticipated many of the sonic advances of the...
, pump organ; Geoff MuldaurGeoff Muldaur is a founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a member of Paul Butterfield's Better Days, and an accomplished solo guitarist, singer, and songwriter.-Career:...
, guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
and backup vocals; Maria MuldaurMaria Muldaur is a folk-blues singer who was part of the folk music revival of the early 1960s...
, bass drumA bass drum is a relatively large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The bass drums are of variable sizes and are used in several musical genres . Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished: the large orchestral bass drum, the smaller kick' drum, and the...
s and backup vocals Chris Parker, drums; and Jim Rooney, rhythm guitarRhythm guitar is the use of a guitar to provide rhythmic chordal accompaniment for a singer or other instruments in a musical ensemble. In ensembles or "bands" playing within the acoustic, country, blues, rock or metal genres , a guitarist playing the rhythm part of a composition supports the...
and backup vocals.
Cover art by Milton GlaserMilton Glaser is a graphic designer, best known for the I Love New York logo, his "Bob Dylan" poster, the "DC bullet" logo used by DC Comics from 1977 to 2005, and the "Brooklyn Brewery" logo. He also founded New York Magazine with Clay Felker in 1968.-Biography:Glaser was educated at New York...
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Compilations
- Come for to Sing, Pathways of Sound, 1963
- The Blues Project, Elektra, 1964
- Folklore Jamboree, Prestige Records
Prestige Records was founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The label's name was initially New Jazz, but changed to Prestige Records the next year. Its catalog contains a significant number of jazz classics, including renowned works by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk and many...
, 1964
- The Newport Folk Festival
The Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959.-History:The Newport Folk Festival was founded in 1959 by Theodore Bikel, Oscar Brand, Pete Seeger and George Wein, founder of the already-well-established Newport Jazz...
1965, Vanguard RecordsVanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...
, 1965
- Take a Trip with Me: Psychedelic Hits", Prestige Records
Prestige Records was founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The label's name was initially New Jazz, but changed to Prestige Records the next year. Its catalog contains a significant number of jazz classics, including renowned works by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk and many...
, 197?
- Bleecker & McDougal: The Folk Scene of the 60s, Elektra, 1984
- Blues in the Bottle, Big Beat Records
Big Beat Records is a British record label and import distributor owned by Ace Records, specialising in garage rock.-Roster:Releases include:*Bert Jansch*Big Star*Dan Hicks*Dean Carter*The Flaming Stars*Frumious Bandersnatch*The Fugs...
, 1988
- Troubadours of the Folk Era, Vol. 1, Rhino Records, 1992
- Blues with a Feeling (Newport Folk Festival Classics), Vanguard
A vanguard is the forward element of an advancing military tactical formation...
, 1993
- The Prestige/Folklore Years, Vol. 1, Prestige Records
Prestige Records was founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The label's name was initially New Jazz, but changed to Prestige Records the next year. Its catalog contains a significant number of jazz classics, including renowned works by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk and many...
, 1995
- The Prestige/Folklore Years, Vol. 2, Prestige Records
Prestige Records was founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The label's name was initially New Jazz, but changed to Prestige Records the next year. Its catalog contains a significant number of jazz classics, including renowned works by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk and many...
, 1995
- The Acoustic Highway Collection: The Road to Country Rock", EMI
The EMI Group is a British music company. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major publishing arm- EMI Music Publishing- based in New York City...
, 1996
- Blues in the Sun, Vol. 7 (Blues Blue, Blues White): The Bluesville Years, Prestige Records
Prestige Records was founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The label's name was initially New Jazz, but changed to Prestige Records the next year. Its catalog contains a significant number of jazz classics, including renowned works by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk and many...
, 1996
- Blues with a Feeling, Part Two, Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...
, 1997
- Washington Square Memoirs: The Great Urban Folk Boom (1950-1970), Rhino Records, 2001
- Evening at Greasy Spoon Diner, P-Vine Records
P-Vine Records is a record label started by Blues Interactions, Inc., a firm in Tokyo, Japan established in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi...
, 2002
External links