As I write this midway through January on a quiet Sunday morning, I'm still listening to what has become known in my family as the "Christmas CD." Each year for at least the past 10 years, my brother, Todd Schwartz, hands out a CD of his music to anyone lucky enough to be at my parents' house on Christmas. It's one of the things that I love about the holiday, and this past year, Todd delivered his best gift yet. Simply titled Originals, his new CD is nothing less than the sounds of a guitar virtuoso at work.
Although most of Todd's recordings involve only a guitar or two, he has a bit of help on Originals--our sister (Kasha) and brother (Troy) provide keyboards and drums, respectively, on one track each. Ten instrumentals comprise the CD, and while some instrumentals we've all heard have seemingly random titles, Todd's song titles accurately describe the beautiful sounds we are hearing, sounds that evoke in each of us the mood of a moment. As examples, "After the Rain" perfectly captures the serenity that sometimes follows a spring rain, and the titles and thumb-picking styles of "Ghost Train," "Smoky Mountain Railway," and "White Lines and Diesel Smoke" make me feel as though I am riding the rails myself, riveted to the rhythm of the journey. Each song on this album delivers in timeless fashion.
It would be difficult to feature the whole of Todd's versatility on one album. His influences range from Bach to Segovia to Chet Atkins to Jimmy Page, and it shows. I doubt there exists a piece of music that he could not play if he wanted to do so, and the fact that Todd's songwriting and arranging skills are as good as his technical skills makes his music an absolute must-hear. So, if no one but my family has access to Todd's music, why all the fuss? That's where this gets good. Todd informs me that he intends to begin making his music available in 2012, and, in my humble opinion, that's good news for music lovers everywhere.
In addition to being an incredible guitar player and songwriter, Todd is a husband, father, and consultant in computer applications for small businesses, as well as a decent golfer and all-around swell guy. He also recently earned a master's degree in business administration.
I played a song by The Jerrys last month at Tuesday Funk, an eclectic Chicago reading series hosted by Sara Ross Witt and William Shunn. The song, "The King of I Don't Care," originally appeared on Jerryrigged (CD-EP released 2003) and is now also featured in my novel, Pixels of Young Mueller, published by All Things That Matter Press.
The Jerrys appear in the new book trailer for Pixels of Young Mueller, published last summer by All Things That Matter Press. Pixels of Young Mueller is the story of the growth and development of an artist.
In the novel, Klaus Mueller dreams of leaving tiny Southland someday to be a rock star. When he chooses stardom over college, however, he learns that his education is just beginning. He endures a series of god-awful jobs while his music is repeatedly rejected, and he wonders how he will ever achieve success. After moving to the city, where he finds a career and becomes a father, he is torn between the great happiness he has found and the success he still craves. Klaus must reconcile his dreams with reality or spend the rest of his life lamenting what might have been.
One of the unique things about the book is that readers can listen to and purchase Klaus' music online. In the next-to-last chapter, Klaus forms his own one-man British pop group, The Jerrys. "The King of I Don't Care," a song by The Jerrys, appears not only on Jerryrigged (CD 2005), but also in Pixels of Young Mueller.
Although the original song (download the mp3) is recorded using mainly keyboard and sitar, I adapted the song for guitar for the purpose of creating the trailer with drummer Robert Porche. In addition, I will perform the song solo as part of my reading from Pixels of Young Mueller at Hopleaf in Chicago on August 2. Pixels of Young Mueller is available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle Edition.
As well as being a very talented writer, you are also a musician. You are the man behind The Jerrys, a Beatles-influenced pop/indie band. Are you a one-man band, or are there other musicians involved in The Jerrys?
Thank you, Maria. For the most part, The Jerrys are just me. I love being the whole band, as members always agree on everything and there are no conflicts with schedules. I do enjoy bringing in other musicians from time to time. Robert Porche (drums/vocals) has appeared on a few songs, as well as in a few videos. In addition, Tom Clishem (vocals) and my brothers Todd (guitar) and Troy (drums) have each appeared on one song.
Pixels of Young Mueller is quite original as it’s almost interactive. Klaus Mueller’s songs can be heard on The Jerrys’ website, and some of the lyrics appear in the novel. Since publishing the book, have you noticed many readers becoming fans of the band?
Thousands! Just kidding. Curiously, I am getting a lot more MySpace fans, but I don’t know whether that has anything to do with the book. I thought MySpace was supposed to be dead already--what’s up with that?
How has the book been received by existing fans of The Jerrys?
So far, they are still fans, so I’m taking that as a good sign!
I have seen from The Jerrys’ website that you have produced quite a few CDs. How would you describe The Jerrys’ sound?
People describe The Jerrys as Beatlesque, and that’s probably as good a start as any, but I don’t think it’s the best description. I’m probably not the best person to ask, but when I think of The Jerrys, I think of trebly guitars, Vox amps, harmonies, power chords, and a DIY attitude.
What bands influenced you most when you were growing up, and what was it about their style/music that you liked?
I grew up listening to The Beatles, The Kinks, Paul Revere and The Raiders, The Who, The Monkees, The Rascals, etc. Actually, I never just listened to them--I lived for them. Their music was my life, and there was nothing more exciting than electric guitars and drums and good singing. At times, I cared about nothing else.
What was the first album you ever bought?
The Beatles 1962-1966
What kind of music do you prefer to listen to?
I listen to a lot of music, but I prefer music that is upbeat and that makes me tap my foot. Ideally, the main instruments are guitars and the singer has an attitude.
Do you keep up to date with the current music scene? If so, what new bands have caught your eye recently?
I have a teenage daughter who LOVES music, so I’m pretty familiar with what is popular, at least. I hear a hook or two once in a while that sticks with me (usually Ke$ha), but as far as the current band scene goes, I’m disappointed...I don’t understand the success of some of these bands. In terms of recent releases, I’m listening to comeback albums from the Smithereens and the Cars. My favorite current band is the Dandy Warhols.
Is there a book you own that you’ve read more than once?
The list of books that I have read more than once is too long to include here. I have always thought of books as being like albums in the sense that I would never think of listening to a good album only once. Each reading or listening brings new rewards.
Here's the new video for "Bigger Than Oprah," which is the first song on The Jerrys' new album, Let's Groove.
Let's Groove was released on May 9, 2011, and is now available at iTunes, Amazon, and CD Baby. The ten new tracks include seven original songs in addition to covers of the Beatles, the Dandy Warhols, and Utopia. Download "Bigger Than Oprah" now!
The new full-length album, Let's Groove, is now available on iTunes and at CD Baby. Be sure to check out the seven new original tracks (download "Bigger Than Oprah") as well as covers of the Beatles, the Dandy Warhols, and Utopia!
Copyright 2011 by Jerry Schwartz.
Produced by The Jerrys.
All instruments and vocals by Jerry Schwartz except Robert Porche on drums.
Cover by Jerry Schwartz. Cover art by David Whitsett.
The new album by The Jerrys, Let's Groove, will be available shortly via iTunes, Amazon, and CD Baby, but you can preview the album now. [UPDATE: The album was released on May 9, 2011.] Listen to "Bigger Than Oprah"! Here are the lyrics:
Bigger Than Oprah
Me and my girl after a while started a family.
We became this little team.
A mom and a dad, a boy and a girl living in the big city
Living out this perfect dream.
If only you could see us now
When we are laughing
When we are having a time.
If only you could be us now
Bigger than Oprah. Bigger than Lindsay.
Bigger than Google. Bigger than Disney.
Me and my peeps every eve dine as a family,
It's when we talk about the day.
It’s good to see you! How did it go? Any good bus stories?
All my worries wilt away.
If only you could see us now
When we get goofy
When we are having a ball
If only you could be us now
Bigger than Oprah. Bigger than Gaga.
Bigger than Elvis. Bigger than China.
Bigger than Oprah. Bigger than MJ.
Bigger than Beatles. Bigger than You-Know-Who.
Me and my girl, a boy, and a girl—together a family
Living life from day to day.
We’re digging the good, taking the bad, trying to keep it steady.
We help each other make our way.
If only you could see us now
When we are singing
When we are doing our thing
If only you could be us now
Bigger than Oprah. Bigger than Jeter.
Bigger than Everest. Bigger than Bieber.
Bigger than Oprah. Bigger than Buddha.
Bigger than Twitter. Bigger than You-Know-Who.
The track listing for The Jerrys' new album, Let's Groove, is now official. Set for release sometime this month, the full-length, 10-track album contains the following songs:
01. Bigger Than Oprah
02. Bohemian Like You
03. Every Girl
04. Let's Groove
05. Love Thang
06. Emily
07. Love in Action
08. All Those Pretty Girls
09. Love Thang (Instrumental version)
10. You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
The new album will be available via iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, and other sites. Stay tuned for new music from The Jerrys!
Two years ago, I replaced my second guitar--an acoustic--with a hollow-body electric guitar, an Epiphone Dot. As I've never felt the need to own more than two guitars at a time and my first guitar is always a Fender Telecaster, my choice for a second guitar is a big deal. I had grown tired of the acoustic guitar I owned, and I reasoned that not only would the Dot eliminate the need to mic guitar when recording, but I could play it without amplification when I felt like it.
As far as gutsy tone goes, the Dot was awesome, but one problem persisted. The Dot, or, to be more specific, the "335" body shape, was simply too big to suit me. It was not long before I realized that I would never feel comfortable playing that guitar, so I sold it.
I began playing my son's Epiphone acoustic guitar. He had put it on a stand in our living room, and it seemed I could not pass through without picking it up. After using it on a Beatles cover ("You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"), I began looking around for an acoustic guitar of my own, one with a cutaway design and electronics to better fit my needs. I soon found just the thing--the Fender CD60CE dreadnought guitar.
I have nothing but praise for my new Fender CD60CE, which features a Fender FTE-3TN preamp with chromatic tuner, volume, bass, mid, and treble, 20-fret sonokeling (Indian rosewood) fingerboard, chrome hardware, and die-cast chrome tuners. I have even come to love Fender's coated Dura-Tone strings (though I soon went to a smaller gauge). My search for a second guitar is SO over.
You can call me what you want to,
Sling your arrows about me.
Even if every word is true
And said with certain flair,
It's just this thing that's in the air;
Nothing you say could compare.
I'm The King of I Don't Care.
You can label me any way,
Think me stupid and lazy,
Slander me any time of day;
I've nothing to declare
And if I did I wouldn't share.
It's like I'm walking on thin air.
I'm The King of I Don't Care.
You can sell me off on eBay,
Zip me up or delete me,
Execute me like JFK,
And I won't even care.
I'll dance around like Fred Astaire,
So put away your questionnaire.
I'm The King of I Don't Care.
Incidentally, this song marks the first time a sitar was used on a Jerrys recording. Listen to or download "The King of I Don't Care" now. Want more? Check out The Jerrys on iTunes! Pixels of Young Mueller is available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle Edition. Jerryrigged cover art by Michele Mata.
The Jerrys were recently featured on the Humble Uker Ramblings Blog performing "Polly Urethane." Check it out! For those inclined to sing along, here are the lyrics:
Polly Urethane
Well there's this girl and
She's driving me out of my mind.
She's a brainiac but that's
The kind of girl I dig anyway.
And she knows what she's doing to me
And she knows biochemistry.
Polly Urethane.
I'm brushing up on everything
I've ever learned from A to Z.
Every single night you'll
Find me in a book on Library Lane.
And she knows what she's doing to me
And she knows relativity.
Polly Urethane.
All the guys are gawking
When she's walking so scholarly.
I wonder if she's smart enough
To know she's got a funny name.
The new year has arrived, and progress on the full-length album continues at breakneck speed. I am having a lot of fun creating and producing new Jerrys tunes, and I hope listeners enjoy the new songs as much as I enjoy making them.
While organizing a few things in preparation for the new year, I ran across an article ("How Live Is Live?") that appeared in the June 2010 issue of Word magazine. The author of the article, Rob Fitzpatrick, traces the evolution of the concert appearance from the unamplified Louisiana Hayride in the 1940s to the extravagant multimedia shows of today's divas.
As examples of how far things have come in my lifetime, the pop stars I grew up with used amplifiers for their guitars and sang through general-purpose public address systems--drums were not even miked in most instances. Last year, U2's setup weighed 190 tons and included a 360-degree video screen weighing 74 tons hanging over the band's heads (the entire production filled 201 trucks). A typical arena tour these days has a traveling crew of 40-50 people.
Technologic advances have made it difficult to determine how much "live" we are getting in a live show. In shows that resemble theater more than a musical performance, there's a good chance the "singer" is not even singing. If the singer is singing, there's an even bigger chance those vocals are being smoothed into tune using pitch correction. Is talent as relevant as it once was?
While I am a huge fan of technology and all that it enables us to do, I also enjoy the reality of a real live show. I like knowing that a band is not using a click track and that they can stretch the solo a few more bars if the moment is right. I like watching a good band deal with a bad note, a broken string, or a missed vocal line. Good bands cover their mistakes well or even turn such events into memorable moments for the audience.
What do you want from a live show? Do you prefer authenticity, or is the overall experience more important? How far is too far? What does "live" mean in 2011?
After their upcoming album, Let's Groove, is released in early 2011, The Jerrys will not release any more albums of new original music. Since the release of their debut, Pop Go The Jerrys, in 2001, much has changed in the way that people listen to and buy music, and these changes are a natural fit with the way I create The Jerrys' music. Here are the main reasons I will not be releasing any new original music in the album format:
I want more immediacy between what I am doing and new music releases.
It takes too long to create an album of new material--especially when you are basically a one-man band. When I finish a song that I am crazy about, I want to make it available as soon as possible. With the current album format, a song finished early in the process could sit on my hard drive for two years before it is released. That's a drag!
The singles format and The Jerrys were made for each other.
Numerous writers have written about the demise of the album format and how iTunes changed the way people listen to music, and I have nothing to add there, but the fact is that I write each Jerrys tune as if it were the single (I don't have time to record "fillers"). In addition, I have no plans to create a concept album. With the exception of missing B-sides (my sole complaint about the return to the singles format), I love the "new" way of doing things.
There's always going to be a good reason to release an album.
Besides the concept album idea already mentioned, there are other reasons why one might want to put out an album. Just as Best of The Jerrys allowed me a way to enter the digital distribution era by including both CD tracks and mp3 singles, I might like to put out an album someday with the best singles released over the next decade or two. Who knows? Maybe by then, the new craze will be albums!
I am thrilled about The Jerrys' upcoming new full-length album and the music to follow, and I am hoping that listeners will be just as excited. LOTS of fun on the way--stay tuned!
A new full-length album, Let's Groove, will be released by The Jerrys in early 2011! Details will follow in the coming weeks. Until then, be sure to check out more fun music by The Jerrys on iTunes, Amazon, and CD Baby.
I am happy to announce that The Jerrys' "D and Me" received an honorable mention in the Rockin' Moms Songwriting Contest 2010 today. Winners were chosen by a panel of music industry professionals and Rockin' Moms staff who judged entries on originality, melody and composition, lyrics, and theme relevance (parenthood theme). Songs were then ranked using a points-based scoring system.
"D and Me" originally appeared on The Jerrys' debut album, Pop Go The Jerrys, in 2001 (give it a listen). The song came to me while looking at a photo on my bookshelf. Here are the lyrics:
D and Me
Take a look around you girl,
There's nothing much to see.
Not much going on round here,
Just you and little D and me.
On my shelf a picture, girl,
Of city scenery:
A picture that you took in Lincoln Park
Of Johnny D and me.
He got groovy shades it's cool
He says and I believe that
I can hang in there if I know
You are here with D and me.
As the result of receiving the honorable mention, the song will appear on Rockin' Moms Compilation CD 2011.
