Claudia Schmidt
Encyclopedia
Claudia Schmidt is a musician, originally from New Baltimore, Michigan, who has recorded folk
, jazz
, blues
, and spoken word
albums. She plays guitar
and Appalachian dulcimer
and sings. She has appeared numerous times on the radio program, A Prairie Home Companion
. She has recorded with Paul Cebar
and Peter Ostroushko
as well as Steve Tibbetts
. She also appeared in a documentary film
, Gap-Toothed Women, by Les Blank
.
Claudia was interviewed about her approach to the 12-String guitar in the Sept. 1988 FRETS magazine, "Special Issue: Beyond 6 Strings"; the article, entitled 'Sweeter By The Dozen: The Magic Of The 12-String Guitar (by Mark Hansen & Richard Bamman)' features her photo on p. 27 and comments on p. 35.
Claudia has been a well-known fixture in the folk/acoustic music scene since her earliest days performing in the late seventies. Her first self-titled recording on Flying Fish Records
— since bought out by Rounder Records
— was a huge success. She recorded four solo entrees with this label, and one duo recording with Sally Rogers. In 1987 she started a relationship with the budding record label Red House Records
where she recorded another five albums, including one more duo with Sally Rogers. All ten of the above recordings were clearly in the folk/acoustic domain.
In 2001 she ventured off into independent status with her first full-fledged jazz recording, Live at the Old Rectory Pub. She has since recorded other independent efforts including two jazz CDs, and folk/acoustic CD, and a spoken word CD.
Claudia has also made a name for herself in musical theater around the midwest. She has scored the music for several plays including a Joseph Jefferson Award winning effort for A Good Person of Szechuan mounted by the Goodman Theatre
in Chicago in 1992.
In 2006 Claudia recorded the soundtrack for a new documentary Motherhood Manifesto, by John deGraff author of Take Back Your Time. She also starred in a musical telling of the Edmund Fitzgerald tragedy titled The Gales of November. This theater piece tells the tragic story of the sinking of this mighty ore ship from the point of view of the wives of several fated crew members.
Claudia lives in Traverse City
, Michigan
, and plays locally.
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, and spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
albums. She plays guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and Appalachian dulcimer
Appalachian dulcimer
The Appalachian dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. It is native to the Appalachian region of the United States...
and sings. She has appeared numerous times on the radio program, A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion is a live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor. The show runs on Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Central Time, and usually originates from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, although it is frequently taken on the road...
. She has recorded with Paul Cebar
Paul Cebar
Paul Cebar is a songwriter, singer, guitarist, and bandleader from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who has a penchant for African, Latin American and Caribbean music...
and Peter Ostroushko
Peter Ostroushko
Peter Ostroushko is an American violinist and mandolinist.-Background and career:Of Ukrainian ancestry, Ostroushko grew up in northeast Minneapolis...
as well as Steve Tibbetts
Steve Tibbetts
Steve Tibbetts is a Saint Paul-based American guitarist known for an original approach to both composing and sound-forming. Tibbetts views the recording studio as a tool for creating sounds...
. She also appeared in a documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, Gap-Toothed Women, by Les Blank
Les Blank
Les Blank is an American documentary filmmaker best known for his portraits of American traditional musicians....
.
Claudia was interviewed about her approach to the 12-String guitar in the Sept. 1988 FRETS magazine, "Special Issue: Beyond 6 Strings"; the article, entitled 'Sweeter By The Dozen: The Magic Of The 12-String Guitar (by Mark Hansen & Richard Bamman)' features her photo on p. 27 and comments on p. 35.
Claudia has been a well-known fixture in the folk/acoustic music scene since her earliest days performing in the late seventies. Her first self-titled recording on Flying Fish Records
Flying Fish Records
Flying Fish Records was a Chicago-based eclectic blues and country record label. It was founded in 1974 by Bruce Kaplan, former president of the University of Chicago's Folklore Society....
— since bought out by Rounder Records
Rounder Records
Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
— was a huge success. She recorded four solo entrees with this label, and one duo recording with Sally Rogers. In 1987 she started a relationship with the budding record label Red House Records
Red House Records
Red House Records is an American independent record label specializing in folk music and is based in St. Paul, Minnesota.The label was originally created in 1981 by Greg Brown as a method to distribute his own music, and is named for a farmhouse in Iowa where he was living...
where she recorded another five albums, including one more duo with Sally Rogers. All ten of the above recordings were clearly in the folk/acoustic domain.
In 2001 she ventured off into independent status with her first full-fledged jazz recording, Live at the Old Rectory Pub. She has since recorded other independent efforts including two jazz CDs, and folk/acoustic CD, and a spoken word CD.
Claudia has also made a name for herself in musical theater around the midwest. She has scored the music for several plays including a Joseph Jefferson Award winning effort for A Good Person of Szechuan mounted by the Goodman Theatre
Goodman Theatre
The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...
in Chicago in 1992.
In 2006 Claudia recorded the soundtrack for a new documentary Motherhood Manifesto, by John deGraff author of Take Back Your Time. She also starred in a musical telling of the Edmund Fitzgerald tragedy titled The Gales of November. This theater piece tells the tragic story of the sinking of this mighty ore ship from the point of view of the wives of several fated crew members.
Claudia lives in Traverse City
Traverse City, Michigan
Traverse City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was 14,674 at the 2010 census, with 143,372 in the Traverse...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, and plays locally.