Danny Schmidt

Named to the Chicago Tribune’s list of the "50 Most Significant Songwriters in the Last 50 Years", Austin, TX-based singer/songwriter Danny Schmidt has amassed a cult following for his poetic, poignant lyrics. With a craftsmanship and emotional depth drawing comparisons to Leonard Cohen and Townes Van Zandt, Schmidt is considered a preeminent writer. Sing Out Magazine proclaimed that: “Schmidt is a force of nature: a blue moon, a hundred-year flood, an avalanche of a singer-songwriter. His songs are a flood of poetry, mythology, folk wisdom, and surprise. He is perhaps the best new songwriter we’ve heard in the last 15 years.”

Performing solo most often, armed with just his voice, his acoustic guitar, and his acute insight and commentary, Schmidt’s an authentic timeless troubadour, one man sharing his truth in the form of songs, in unadorned and intimate fashion. The understated effect can be powerful. As songwriter Jeffrey Foucault put it: “Everything about the man is gentle, except for his capacity for insight, which is crushing.”

After garnering unanimous critical praise for his self-released Parables & Primes album in 2005, Schmidt’s follow up release, Little Grey Sheep in 2007 began a streak of albums that topped the FolkDJ Radio Charts internationally. And on the heels of being crowned with one of the prestigious Kerrville New Folk awards in 2007, Schmidt won the notice of venerable Americana roots label, Red House Records, who began releasing his albums in 2009, alongside such notable artists as Greg Brown, Eliza Gilkyson, and John Gorka, thus exposing his music to a broader audience.

Schmidt released three albums on Red House Records, including the critically acclaimed debut Instead The Forest Rose To Sing in 2009, the spare and intimate Man Of Many Moons in 2011, and culminating with the amorous duo album For Keeps with his partner, Carrie Elkin, in 2014. Schmidt returned to self-releasing his own music in 2016 with the album Owls, a mystical collection of ethereal allegories. Standard Deviation in 2019 is Schmidt’s ninth solo record and tenth album total.

Schmidt’s relationship with the hit podcast Welcome To Night Vale began when his song This Too Shall Pass was used in one of their first episodes, and immediately struck a chord with the podcast’s young and hyper-intelligent audience. The relationship has grown since then, as Schmidt has subsequently toured with the podcast for many of their live shows as the special musical guest, and has premiered some his newest creations on the show.

Family life for Schmidt has begun to interweave with his musical life. His wife Carrie Elkin is herself an acclaimed singer/songwriter, and the two often tour together, sharing songs back and forth, and singing harmonies on each other’s work. In 2016 they celebrated the birth of their daughter, Maizy, who is often a fixture at their duo shows.

Learn more at https://www.dannyschmidt.com/

Laurelyn Dossett

Singer/songwriter Laurelyn Dossett lives and writes in the piedmont of North Carolina, and her songs tend to reflect the stories of the region, both traditional and contemporary. One of the most sought-after voices in creative collaborations, she co-founded Polecat Creek with singing partner Kari Sickenberger in 1997. Laurelyn is a frequent performer at regional music festivals such as Merlefest and has been a guest on the radio show Prairie Home Companion. She has toured with folk legend Alice Gerrard and songwriter Diana Jones, and premiered composer Kenneth Frazelle’s song cycle, “Songs in the Rear View Mirror,” in 2010, and has toured with the North Carolina Symphony in 2009 and 2011 and 2013.

In recent years Laurelyn has partnered with Triad Stage’s Preston Lane on five plays featuring regional folklore and original music: Brother Wolf (2006), Beautiful Star: An Appalachian Nativity (2006), Bloody Blackbeard (2008), Providence Gap (2010) and Snow Queen(2013). An adaptation of Bloody Blackbeard toured NC schools in 2009, and both Brother Wolf and Beautiful Star are published by Playscripts and have gone on to have professional productions in cities across the U.S. A song from Brother Wolf, “Anna Lee,” was featured on Levon Helm’s Grammy-winning record, Dirt Farmer, is included in the documentary film about Helm’s life, called “Ain’t in it for my Health,” and is featured on the 2011 Grammy-winning cd Levon Helm’s “Ramble at the Ryman.”

Commissioned by the North Carolina Symphony, Dossett and the symphony premiered her new song cycle, “The Gathering: A Winter’s Tale in Six Songs, in November 2011. She performed with singer and fiddler Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, legendary Nashville mandolinist Mike Compton, and North Carolina’s own banjo virtuoso, Joe Newberry. The accompanying cd, “The Gathering,” was released to critical acclaim, including top holiday picks from the Wall Street Journal, LA Times, and USA Today.

Laurelyn spent much of 2012 writing and performing with Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) and they released a collaborative cd, “The Collide.” She also received an NEA grant to write a new play with Preston Lane, and had a December tour with “The Gathering.” Her song “Leaving Eden” is the title track of the Grammy-nominated recent release by the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

Laurelyn has taught songwriting and singing at the Augusta Heritage Center, as well as at many universities, workshops and festivals. She is the 2012 recipient of the Betty Cone Medal of Arts, the 2010 recipient of the North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship for songwriting, 2004 winner of the Chris Austin songwriting contest at Merlefest, and a 2010 fellow at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. She lives with her family in Greensboro, NC.

Learn more at https://www.laurelyndossett.com/