A song about the American dream.

To date, all of my songs have been written from my own experience and perceptions - if not through the eyes of someone very close to me.  In this track, I created characters. While there may be some characteristics or experiences I can relate to, they are not created directly from anyone I know.

This is actually the first song of my own that I ever wrote, beginning in the summer of 2020. This song and "My Oldest Friend" began my journey into songwriting and went through a lot of revisions that helped me find and develop my own writing style.  The first track I released was "I'd Like to Think," motivated by the imminent passing of my Grandpa Chet, but it was also standing on the shoulders of the other two tracks that helped me find my voice.

This song has been set aside for a long time as my songwriting has evolved since it's first inception. I began writing it in the midst of the BLM protests in Minneapolis and across the nation. At the time, I wasn't sure if I could (or should) write a song inspired by social (in)justice.  I'm still not sure, but here it is.  

Over the past year, it's felt like everyday wake up to an new ugly truth about our society that the curtain has been pulled back on. But these truths are not new, just the attention that has been drawn to them. So interpret these lyrics however you want, but know that they were written about systemic issues that are a plague and I'm not talking about COVID-19.

It's so disappointing to see how some folks boast about how hateful they are.  Be kind.

On a lighter note: I'd like to give a big shout out to my good friend and fellow artists Amy Jord, who performed on this track with me.  More is coming from her soon. Enjoy!

Good feat. Amy Jord

A song about life, death, and the 5 stages of grief...

I am blessed to have been able to share a part of my life with my grandfather, Chet Nolf, who passed away in late 2020. I had the privilege and honor to be by his side during his last days, and to help him my Tutu during his departure from this life. 2020 was a trying time, to say the least, for the entire world. One small silver-lining was my own journey back to writing my own music for the first time in over 10 years, and having Grandpa Chet be a part of that journey with me. 

Before 2020, I had always thought of myself as more of a collaborator than a songwriter, and having never before written and sung my own words. My creative wheels had been spinning for many months since the pandemic started, but this track is first the one that pushed me to see a whole song to completion. I wanted Grandpa Chet to hear it before he passed, and I finished the foundation of the song back in July of 2020. I wanted to capture as best I could - through his eyes - the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I played him my first draft and we held each other and cried tears of joy and sorrow together. He was so proud, and I felt (still feel) proud too. We had many more blessed months together and I got to play him every update to the track through the final published version.

I'd Like To Think

A song reflecting on failed relationships and choosing to get back up...

I wrote this song to reflect on my own experience with love. In the fall of 2020, in my mid-thirties, I am engaged to get married to my (hopefully) second and final wife. My parents have been divorced from each other since I was eight years old, and both are currently on their third marriage. 

This song is very personal for me as I reflect on love as I have experienced and witnessed it, and the stigma surrounding the idea of getting married again. Why can’t we look at people searching for love again in a positive light like so many other ‘underdogs’ in the American narrative?

My Oldest Friend

A song about struggling with mental illness...

Saying that the year 2020 has been hard on everyone would be an understatement. I'm not here to try and claim one person's struggles are more important or have more weight than any other person. I can only comment on my own experiences.

As someone who has battled mental illness for as long as I can remember, the challenges of the year 2020 weigh me down, even on my better days. I am fortunate to have found the right balance of therapy and medications about 10 years ago, but that itself was nearly a 10-year journey. I am also blessed to have family and friends who support and love unconditionally. The idea of conditional love is so foreign to me, and as I get older, I see more and more how rare I find unconditional love outside of my own experience.

I started writing this track while in a deep hole - being the primary caretaker of my dying grandfather in his last days; also having recently learned that the company I worked for was filing for bankruptcy and I no longer had a job. 

I would consider these last several months as some of the darkest I've experienced in a very long time, but even at their worst, I am blessed to have found what works best for me through the love, therapy, and medicine. But other's are not as lucky as I am. Some suffer symptoms more severely or differently than I do. Some have "loved" ones who don't love unconditionally. Some don't have the means to afford or access the needed care.  The list goes on.

I hope you enjoy this track or even that it makes you feel something. The message I'm trying to convey is that no-one is self-made and it's OK to ask for help. I wanted to dive into a genre I had never worked with before. 

And thank you to my constant support of friends and family. The idea of conditional love is so foreign to me, and as I get older, I see more and more how rare I find unconditional love outside of my own experience.

Love each other. I love you all.

Where The Light Is

A love song for my betrothed...

I wanted to write a love song for my future-second-and-final wife, Jessica Nicole Steiner. I initially intended to work on it in secret and give it to her on December 16, 2020 which will be our wedding anniversary beginning next year, but I suck at lying and hiding things. I already used all of my discretion when planning our engagement last year in front of most of our family and friends at one of my shows. I couldn't hold back this time around, and I had to share it with her as soon as I got the rough draft down. 

One of our favorite bands that we listen to together is Mumford & Sons - I proposed last year after performing their song "Forever" - so I wanted to write a song that captured that style. I wanted to keep the instrumentation raw and acoustic, not just for the style, but also as part of the message: this is who we are, - with no filter; no mask - and that is all we need. There is some spiritual imagery here as well, so I wanted to capture some of that with the organ and a choir of voices. The lyrics are not only the truth of our journey so far, but sprinkled with lots of references to our lives and experiences together (ie. Our cats our named Dylan and Cash, and its not by accident that i reference two famous song titles by each respective artist).

Journey before destination; the most important step we can take is always the next one.

Lost

A love song about overcoming challenges together...

I set out to write a sequel to the track "Lost," the love song I wrote for my fiancée.  As things were coming together, it evolved into also being a sequel to "Where the Light Is," the song I wrote about my struggles with mental illness and the state of the world at large.

This is not a love song that is full of sunshine and rainbows.  Above all else, we will face the good, the bad, and the ugly TOGETHER.  We will grow together.  We will continue to aim for better.  We will BE better. The vow most important is WE will do better. The most important step is always the NEXT one. The world and our country needs to embody this message now more than ever.

This track combines the musical styles of both Lost (Roots Rock) and Where the Light Is (Electronic Rock) and evolves into something more as the track progresses.  The bridge is intentionally chaotic, just like trying to navigate this world tends to be at times, before pulling through to the final reprise.  We'll accept this pain, but not that we deserve it.  Failure is the mark of a life well lived.

Now, before you ask; yes, that is my former-and-temporary-first-wife pictured alongside my future-second-and-final-wife. We discussed at length using this photo for this track, and she fully supports it because that is who and what we are. We are the king and queen of making people feel uncomfortable because there is nothing that is off the table with what we say or do, and how we live our lives. I chose this photo because we cannot forget where we came from, even if it hurts.  The pain will fade over time (and maybe never completely), but we still need to remember in order to grow and become better.

The Vow

A song for my brother.

My musical journey truly began back in the year 2000, when I started 8th grade at a brand new school because my family had just moved. In my homeroom class, I started talking to the kid behind me because we both liked to draw DragonBall Z characters. That was the day I met my brother, Jarrod.

We became best friends, and he had started taking guitar lessons, so naturally, I wanted to play guitar too.  We didn't stick with the lessons very long, but we spent all of our time learning how to play our favorite songs in his garage, and the rest is history. We've been best friends ever since, and have played music together in a variety of projects together over the years, and I owe all of musical talent to him because I always thought he was a better singer and guitar player, and I was trying to keep up.

I wanted this track to be reminiscent of our days playing eclectic hard rock like we did in the band A Life Among Ghosts. I also wanted my brother to be there along side me for the ride, and Jarrod was gracious enough to offer his voice and guitar solo.

I love you, brother.  We turned ourselves around; that's what it's all about.

Special thanks to Rob Dessimoz and Nate Burns for their contributions as well.  Don't worry, I'm gonna write a love song for each of you too ; )

Halfway Down feat. Jarrod Brown

A reflection on parenthood before parenthood.

No, this is NOT my way of announcing to the world that we're expecting a baby. I've just had plenty of time to think about it as we get closer to when that day comes. And with all of the ugliness in the world, particularly right now, I can't help but reflect on bringing and nurturing a life into this world when my faith in humanity is at one of the lowest points it has ever been.

When the idea for this song first started to blossom in my mind, I wanted the track to be raw and acoustic with piano accompaniment. My original intent was for Jess Steiner to showcase her years classical training in her youth since this will be our journey together. I played little melodies with my own untrained fingers as place-holders for her to replace later. But as the song was developing, I realized that the child-like playing I put down really became it's own character, while also helping the song's message.

The track where we will showcase Jess' years of child abuse - err, I mean, classical training - is yet to come. But it will come - that's not a threat, but a promise.

This track, along with everything on it, was written and performed almost entirely by me. Thank you to my usual crew of collaborators for the helpful feedback as the final version of this song was developed: Nate Burns, Rob Dessimoz, and Jarrod Brown.

And the most important thank you of them all - thank you to my parents: Bret Schmidt, Debbie Lynch, and Frank Lynch for giving me a life full of love and raising me to know the difference between right and wrong. With the older I get, and the more that I see, my own wonderful experience of unconditional love and support is a rarity in this world.

My Faith

A cover of Bruises by Lewis Capaldi featuring Teresa Zelnis, a good friend and colleague.

This is the first cover that I've recorded in the studio rather than simply performing live. I was somewhat familiar with this song, but had only heard Lewis Capaldi on the radio. This is the first of many tracks to come that will involve Teresa as we works on her own original songs, and this is a nice way to dip her toe in (pun intended, both in regards to the lyrics of this track, and that we both work around pools).

This song took me back to a place where many of us have been, where someone or something you love takes root so deep into your psyche particularly when you are young and this may be the first time you experiencing those types of feelings on such a grand scale. The kind of things that is buried down so deep in your subconscious, that despite feeling like the wounds have long been healed, you wake up in a cold sweat after you've just experienced the most vivid and heart-wrenching dream, over a decade later and you think to yourself, "what the f**k was that?" My own life-long journey of companionship has had its share of twists and turns over the years. I believe I have found the part of that journey where I won't have to find myself having to go on alone.

Bruises (Cover) feat. Teresa Zelnis

Original works by Schmidt are eclectic, yet thoughtful, alternative pop/rock. Schmidt also performs popular music covers, both current and classic, kept fresh and unique with looping beats and guitar licks alongside harmonizing voices.