Former Charlottesville-based singer-songwriter Danny Schmidt has inked a deal with independent folk label Red House Records according to an announcement from the label released yesterday. Schmidt, who currently resides in Austin, Texas, will release his Red House debut, Instead the Forest Rose to Sing, in March of 2009.
Red House Records, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, has been one of the leading independent folk labels in the U.S. for over two decades with a roster of artists that has included the likes of legendary performers such as Utah Phillips, Loudon Wainwright III, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, as well as contemporary stars Eliza Gilkyson, Jimmy Lafave, and Lucy Kaplansky. The label was first founded by singer-songwriter Greg Brown back in 1981 as a home for his own music, but has grown to release over 200 releases from a wide-range of recording artists in its 25 year plus history.
Winner of the prestigious Kerrville New Folk award in 2007, singer/songwriter Danny Schmidt writes with a lyrical complexity and a style drawing comparisons to Townes Van Zandt and Leonard Cohen, leading Sing Out Magazine to tag him: “the best new songwriter we’ve heard in 15 years.” He has released five albums to date, including his 1999 debut Live at the Prism Coffeehouse, which was recorded right here in Charlottesville, a town that Schmidt called home for a number of years before heading back to his hometown of Austin, Texas.
Danny Schmidt returns to Charlottesville next month with a scheduled show on Thursday, December 11 at the Gravity Lounge with special guest Carrie Elkin, who is also from Austin, Texas. Mark it on your calendars now! [Watch Danny Schmidt perform “This Too Shall Pass”, taken from a live performance in May 2005 at Charlottesville’s Starr Hill Music Hall here]
Popularity: 14% [?]
Tagged as: concert, Danny Schmidt, Music, record label, Red House Records, singer-songwriter
One point about that Live at the Prism Coffeehouse cd, that was not a Prism event. A friend of Danny’s, who happened to occasionally volunteer at the Prism asked if Danny could use the space for a recording. Danny went in on a Sunday afternoon, and then invited friends to the recording. But aside from using the space, that was not a Prism sponsored show. Danny pulled a fast one by calling it Live from the Prism.
Just so the record is clear…
I recall that the choice of the Prism for recording was because it was well known as a great sounding room, and assumed the naming of the CD to be a shout out to give props (and free publicity) back to the venue.
And regardless of the reasons behind the making of the Prism CD, the real thing to keep in mind is that this Red House deal is great break for a singer-songwriter who not only was a part of the Charlottesville music scene but who embraced and celebrated the scene as well. Here’s a quote from an interview that Danny gave in 2001 with a NYC journalist, where he talks about Charlottesville’s music scene:
“Well, first I’ve gotta brag on Charlottesville. Or talk a little trash, really. I betcha I could line up the five best songwriters in Cville against your top five here in New York, and we’d clean house on y’all. It’d be kinda like the movie Hoosiers. Y’all have the big pool to pick from, but we’ve just plain got the goods. And heart.”
[…] Schmidt, who just recently signed with Red House Records, returns to Charlottesville to play the Gravity Lounge tonight (December 11). This will be […]