Eric Von Schmidt

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Eric Von Schmidt on the cover of Tomato CD 2053
Eric Von Schmidt on the cover of Tomato CD 2053

Eric Von Schmidt (May 28, 1931 - February 2, 2007) was an American singer-songwriter associated with the folk/blues revival of the 1960s and a key part of the East Coast folk music scene ([1]) that included Bob Dylan ([2]) and Joan Baez.

Contents

[edit] Background

Von Schmidt is probably best known for not being the author of the song Baby, Let Me Follow You Down, which was for years a staple of Dylan's musical catalogue. Dylan's label, Columbia Records, credited Von Schmidt as the composer of the piece. Although he penned a book of the same name, Von Schmidt denied ([3]) the assertion made by the record label.

Four years before his death, Eric von Schmidt painted his last epic masterpiece of American history. The canvas’ subject was of Lewis and Clark's Corp of Discovery honoring its bicentennial. After completing that subject he continued his “Giants of the Blues” series of paintings. Both may be viewed at his official website, vonsworks.com (see links below).

Eric Von Schmidt's father, Harold Von Schmidt, was a painter of western landscapes who worked for The Saturday Evening Post.

[edit] Awards and Legacy

Von Schmidt's music has been recorded by Travis MacRae and Jeff Buckley. He is considered an important influence on Tom Rush.[4] He was honored in 2000 with the ASCAP Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award ([5]) at an event ([6]) which featured a reunion of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band including Fritz Richmond.

He is widely credited ([7]), along with Rush, for reviving and arranging the most-widely-performed version of the traditional song Wasn't That A Mighty Storm about the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 that caused extensive property damage in Galveston, Texas.

Von Schmidt was also an author, painter and illustrator, who created cover art for several books, and album covers for several artists ([8]) including Baez.

In 1997, he won a Grammy Award for his work on a compilation album entitled Anthology of American Folk Music, Vol. 1-3. He painted up until his death, and recently completed an epic mural of the Battle of the Alamo.

He suffered a stroke in August 2006, and died seven months later, aged 75.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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