Big Mon - A Mandolin Duet with my teacher, Al White

Recorded in Spring, 2000, at Berea College. I was a senior and close to graduating so I wanted to record some tunes that I had learned—even if they weren’t totally up to the usual bluegrass tempo, a.k.a. “lightning fast.” I actually had the pleasure of attempting to play this song on Monday for the first time in probably a decade at the Radford Fiddle and Banjo Jam . It was fun, but holy cow it was fast!

This recording of Big Mon is not-so-fast, short, and a fun memory for me. We were in the upstairs piano lab of Preston Hall (before the renovations) and just put the tape recorder on a music stand, and played. At first, it was hard to tell which one of the mandolins is him and which one is me. After listening a bit more closely, though, I can hear the difference in both his mandolin (my favorite Gibson f-style I’ve ever played) and mine, (Sigma f-style) and his excellent touch alongside my hit-or-miss technique.

Al White is an outstanding musician, teacher, and fun fellow to be around. You can check out some of his music at: http://bit.ly/bereacastoffs. His songbook, Yesterday’s Noodles, has some of the most fun contra dance and waltz tunes in it around. He probably still has copies of it for sale if you ask him.

The Star-Spangled Banner (America’s National Anthem)

This post is from December of 1996 (my freshman year in college) when I sang the national anthem before a Berea College basketball game in Seabury Center.

Happy Memorial Day weekend! (a lil’ early)

El Verbo // The Word

“The Word” … in Spanish. (See previous post for story and song info.)

The Word // El Verbo

Since I didn’t post last week, this week you get a double-feature!

As part of the second LifeEast worship CD, About You, we recorded this song called, The Word both in English and in Spanish (El Verbo). Since our drummer for the album was more of a “rock guy” and didn’t want to learn to play the Latin groove for this song, I had a lot of fun playing drums on it! I also got to co-sing the lead vocals on the English version, which made for a nifty duet. Since I don’t really habla and Gabriel did, he sang on the Spanish version, but we asked a friend of mine, Irvin, to sing the other lead part for El Verbo.

We recorded the album in Blacksburg at Rick Kraniack’s Reel To Real Studio which was a great experience both because the environment was fantastic for recording, and also because the location was only 20 minutes from campus, we could come and go as needed while not having to pull our students out of classes as much when recording.

I hope you enjoy both renditions of this song. Have a happy week!

Song Credits:
Words by Ernesto Loera; Music by Luigi Peñaranda
Lead Vocals: Gabriel Rodriguez, and Fritz Schindler (English) Irvin Johns (Spanish)
Electric Guitar: Brandon Lucas
Classical Guitar: Luke Eichelberger
Piano: Irvin Johns
Bass: Dan Lee
Drums: Fritz Schindler
Percussion: Gabriel Rodriguez, Sarah Ruggerio, and Crystal Neubauer
Backing Vocals: Lorraine Brown, and Heather Broughman

Scotland - by the Free Range ‘Possums

Yes, I have been in two, count ‘em, two bands with ‘Possum in the name so far. (It’s ok if you’re impressed.)

This video was taken in February 2009 at the Appalachian Awareness Day celebration at Radford University. We were asked to kick off the event and particularly to play songs about mountaintop removal, which was that year’s theme. We played Black Waters, Paradise, and the Old Homeplace to fit that request, plus some other favorites of ours like Alabama Jubilee, Old Joe Clark, and Devil’s Dream. The sound quality of the video isn’t quite what we wanted, but it gives you an idea anyway.

The video clip begins with us ending the song, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, but the tune I’m featuring this week is called Scotland. It’s a great, traditional fiddle tune and was the last one of our set that day. I hope you enjoy it!

This fine group of folks (sans me) still plays some great bluegrass and old-time tunes here in the New River Valley and now also have an alter ego Dixieland / Jazz band known as the Amore ‘Dillos. (You can when they’re being the ‘Dillos because they all put on bowties. They’re real classy like that.) You can find out more about them by visiting their Facebook page. There are some more recent videos and photos of the group, plus the usual fun silliness that comes from these great folks. Check ‘em out!

Song Credits:
Bud Bennett: banjo
Tom Steele: guitar
Bailey Steele: fiddle
Harper Steele: bass
Fritz Schindler: mandolin
(Julie Steele has since joined the group and does some mighty fine singing!)

Yesterday, Today & Forever

This is one of five songs our band Waiting For Daylight recorded live at New Horizons Church one evening in October of 2007 (thus the album name, Fall ‘07: Live!). There are some great moments, a few flubs, and a lot of fun. The audio was recorded through the church sound board and into GarageBand via four subgroups: vocals, bass & drums, other instruments, and audience. I was able to go in and adjust some volume levels afterward, but that was it, so this is truly a live album!

Yesterday, Today & Forever is a favorite of mine to sing on my own when worshiping or when leading a group. It’s a song of declaration that God is who He said He is, and that He is always the same. I find that both comforting and invigorating at the same time. The echo part is something I came up with to use instead of the original bridge because it better fit the way we play the song—more upbeat and punchy—and gets the audience-worshipers more involved in a call and response, which I also think is funner.

Waiting For Daylight was a band I enjoyed being a part of from 2006 - 2008. We got the opportunity to play for folks regularly at a local Mexican restaurant, often for youth rallies, and also opened for the rock group, Nevertheless at Radford University at a student-run event called Amplified Bandfest.

I miss getting to play regularly with my ol’ WFD bandmates, but am thankful to still get the chance to play with some of them on occasion, which is always super. Especially since we’re not together as a group anymore, I’m so glad we have these five songs recorded to help us remember the fun times we had makin music together as a group!

Song credits:
Yesterday, Today & Forever - by Vicky Beeching
Amanda Dillard - drumsset
Matt Hall - bass
Adam Hall - saxophones, vocals
Fritz Schindler - vocals, acoustic guitar
Jonathan Mayer - keys, electric guitar, vocals

Banjo Pickin’ Girl

Yes, this is truly the name of the song, and yes, I’m actually the one playing the banjo. The only boy in a bluegrass group with three girls. Yep. That’s just how we rolled back then in the ‘Possum Ridge Pickers. You can actually hear us trying to keep our composure at around 0:22 as the humor of it all struck us while we were singing. But again, that’s how we rolled in the PRP.

This song was one of the first hits recorded by the original ‘Coon Creek Girls back in the early days of radio. They were the first all-girl bluegrass band to become well-known, largely from their regular appearances on the Renfro Valley Barn Dance radio show that was broadcast just a few miles away from Berea, KY where the PRP members grew up. Our mutual music teacher on fiddle and guitar, Wanda Barnett, was, at the time, a member of the New ‘Coon Creek Girls, a stellar, all-girl bluegrass group of the late 1980s and early 1990s. She and fellow ‘Cook Creeker and my banjo teacher, Annie Kaiser taught us this song and we performed it in some of our longer live sets and on this recording, made in “Fritz’s Room Studio’ (a.k.a. my bedroom) in the summer of 1991 with a four-track recorder on cassette tape.

Our band began in the spring of 1990 as a school talent show act consisting of Deborah and me playing the rip-roaring instrumental song, “Theme Time.” I was in sixth grade and Deborah in fourth. We later grew into the foursome including the Compton girls.

‘Possum Ridge was a nickname our parents gave to the neighborhood we all lived in, honoring the plethora of ‘possums who gave their lives while unsuccessfully trying to cross the road. (Believe it or not, this was only the first band I’ve been in that had ‘Possum in the name!)

The PRP played for such illustrious events as the grand opening of the Berea Public Library, several editions of the Family Medicine Musical Review, and numerous talent shows. Deborah and I also later played together in the high school folk dance super group of central Kentucky, The Last of the Fashion-Conscious Lumberjacks, but I’ll save that story for another post. (See how I keep building suspense and anticipation?)

The funniest part for me about this song isn’t actually the irony of being the banjo-playing dude in a song about a banjo-playing chick. What I love is that we recorded this song a few years before my voice changed so I’m also the one singing the highest harmony part! To round out the humorous parts of our group and this song (and I was kinda round back in those days before I hit my growth spurt), as the oldest and only boy member of the group, I was actually noticeably shorter than Elizabeth, who was a few months younger than me. Geesh. How embarrassing. [Insert chuckle or sympathetic “awww” here.]

Funny stuff and all, here it is, Banjo Pickin’ Girl by the ‘Possum Ridge Pickers in 1991. I hope you dig it! Thanks for stopping by to share in the nostalgic, musical fun!

The ‘Possum Ridge Pickers were:
Elizabeth Compton - guitar, lead vocals
Catherine Compton - fiddle, vocals
Deborah Payne - fiddle, vocals
Fritz Schindler - banjo, guitar, mandolin, harmony vocals

Mercy Is Falling…

…Like a Sweet Spring Rain
Well, sort of. This last week while I was sick we got bucket loads of rain here in the New River Valley. I’m posting this particular song in honor of last week because the irony of it all makes me grin. The rains we had (and the nearby tornadoes) were not so sweet…but the sun’s back out again now so that makes smiling about it all that much easier—and sweeter.

The band was called Free Stuff (we hoped it would look inciting on concert flyers and draw a crowd); the venue was the small chapel connected to a large church; the event was a weekly, free-flowing worship gathering called Ignite the Light; the college was Berea; the town was of the same name, located smack-dab in the middle of the beautiful commonwealth of Kentucky.

The song was Mercy Is Falling, one with which we often started our gatherings. It was sort of a call to worship. A reminder that God is ever-present in the midst of our troubles and triumphs, and that we can come to Him in this very moment—every moment—and receive His gentle cleansing or even a good hard scrubbing if we need it. We’d often go from this mid-tempo, gentle / upbeat song into one of our more rockin’ tunes and from there, to who-knows-where each week, but somehow this tune struck a chord with many of us and resonated as a good way to begin. A way to say, “We are here. Together. And we want to worship God freely with our songs and fully-abandoned expression. We receive Your grace.” Hey-oh!

Ignite the Light was a unique worship experience at the time in Berea, KY during the three years it existed (1997 - 2000). Fully student-initiated and led, we were a group of guys and gals who loved God and wanted more of Him (what that exactly meant we weren’t quite sure sometimes) but we did know we weren’t fully satisfied with what we were experiencing in the traditional worship methods found in the churches we grew up in and that were available to us in the area around the college we were attending. It was in a way, our own little Jesus Movement. Somewhat of a rebellion from the ways of the older folks (our parents, folks over 35, etc.) and also an exploration of what it meant to follow after God on our own when out from under Mommy & Daddy’s wings. It was an exploration. A journey. We came with anticipation (most weeks), eagerly desiring an encounter with God and to come away changed, not quite the same as when we walked in.

This song, to me, represents a glimpse into that era of my life. I’m sure I’ll write more about those times later. I wrote a couple of paragraphs just now but got off into wandering thoughts about the past and the present which made things rather jumbly. I decided I probably need some clearer thinking first to make it a better read so I’m saving that for another time.

The recording was made on cassette tape using my trusty, hand-held tape recorder, found in its usual place most weeks on the front row pew of the chapel. I was really into the British worship band, delirious? at the time and hoped to catch some wonderful live bit from the goings-on and make a record with it like they had. I’ve learned a lot about sound since then and realized that really wasn’t a likely happening. Oh well. Our “sound system” was an amalgam of guitar amps, several of which had two input channels so we’d run a guitar in one and a mic a voice through the other. The sound wasn’t great, but we got it out there the best we could.

For now, I’ll finish off by adding in the band info below and of course, the recording itself, above. As always, thanks for listening and reading!

— Fritz

Free Stuff was:

Shawn Ide - lead & harmony vocals, djembe, various percussion
Fritz Schindler - lead & harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, and occasionally swapping with someone else to play bass or drums
Mike “Chappy” Chappelear - bass, and usually the one who did the speaking / preaching / teaching part each week at ItL
Chris Mapes - electric guitar, and skateboarding
Lance Galloway - drumset

(I didn’t post an ORW last week because I was sick. This is the make-up post from the following Monday.)

The Way That I Should Grow (God Is Great)

Isn’t that a spiffy title? (And by “spiffy” you know I mean looong?)

This is, I believe, the second song I wrote with words. (The recording I have of the first one with words is quite hilarious and I look forward to sharing that on a future ORW post. Cue anticipation…now.)

I got the initial idea for it out of nowhere just before I was about play piano for a Sunday evening worship service at the local Methodist church in my town. While washing and drying my hands in the wonderfully echoy Methodist restroom, I started singing the “God is great and God is good” line and thought it was worth flowing with it for a few minutes, and perhaps even be write-down-able. I sat down at a nearby piano in the choir room with pencil and paper, writing and plunking on the piano. Thirty or so minutes later, I emerged from the choir room and took my usual spot near the piano in the church sanctuary. It was about halfway through the service by this time (it was a pretty informal service) and I felt a little sheepish about having missed the first part. After a few minutes someone asked what I had been up to, to which I responded, “I think I just wrote a song.” The friendly folks asked to hear it, so I proceeded to play the chorus and first verse for them. That was quite fun! The second and third verse were added a few weeks later and I felt like the song was complete.

This version of TWTISG (GIG) was recorded in Nashville for LifeEast’s first original music CD, called re:fresh, and it ended up as track number seven out of nine. All of the songs on the album were written and performed by LifeEast students and myself over the course of an extended weekend in Nashville at two different studios, one for most of the instruments and the other for vocals and percussion. Dave Zaffiro was at the helm as our fearless producer. It was really cool to work with him because, A. He is a cool guy to work with; and B. He produced the first two Passion Band albums in the late ninety’s, of which I was / am a great fan. I learned a lot in the experience and am really grateful that I got to be a part of the re:fresh project, wearing many musical and directorial hats.

If I could change anything about this recording of the song, it would be to add in the great harmony vocals we had practiced but ran out of time to record, maybe re-do the keyboard solo, and probably sing the third verse the way I originally wrote it instead of with a handful of words omitted per the request of the executive producer, because it was too “wordy.” I definitely agree that the song is wordy. I mean, just reading the title should be a clue you’re in for an earful of lyrics! Oh well. Maybe I’ll re-record it someday. Until then, I still really like this recording of it and am happy to have it to share with you.

There’s some background about this song. I hope you enjoy it! Please post comments on Facebook or Twitter if you have ‘em. I’d love to know what you think about any of the Old Release Wednesday tunes I’m sharing.

Thanks for listening!

Old Joe Clark (1991 4-Track Cassette Edition!)

As a middle-schooler, I was really into bluegrass music. The love started for me by playing guitar, but heated up to an incredible degree once I got a banjo for my birthday. (I think I was 12?) Within a year or so, I was actually playing banjo so much that I injured my right arm and had to all but give it up. That led to me taking up the mandolin and for a short while, the fiddle, too. That’s the silver lining part, I guess you could say.

Anyway, one summer (1991 to be exact) I saved up enough money to rent a 4-track cassette recorder for a couple months. It was a huge deal to me, because this was the closest thing a person could get back then (before GarageBand, at-home digital recording, and the like) to professionally recording and producing music on your own. I was so stoked! (I don’t personally know any other kids my age who did that, so looking back I think it’s kinda extra cool.)

I plugged in the two old microphones that had belonged to my grandfather, placed one on my chest of drawers (conveniently the right height for guitars and the like) and hung the other from the Nerf basketball hoop on my closet door (just right for recording vocals and fiddles), hit record and started laying down tracks and having fun. I recorded mostly on my own, layering tracks of me playing banjo, guitar and mandolin, and sometimes singing. Several of the songs I also invited my band-mates from The ‘Possum Ridge Pickers (more on them in a future post) to join me. All in all, I put together a 10 - 12 song album, created the album artwork myself (see above), the liner notes, special labels for the tapes themselves, and hand-numbered each copy. Probably only made eight of them or so total, but man, it was so much fun!

This song, Old Joe Clark, is a bluegrass standard that basically everyone in the genre knows. On this version, I play banjo, mandolin and guitar. The mix and timing aren’t perfect, but I think it captures my enthusiasm for pickin’ at that time in my life. I’ll probably share other tracks from this album at some point in the future, but this one is my favorite so I selected it first. I hope you enjoy it! Please let me know whatcha think!