Guy Schwartz (born February 17, 1952) is an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, videographer, music journalist, media activist, and 2016 presidential candidate, mostly known for his collaborative involvement with other Texas musicians, a couple of regional minor-hit records in the 1970s and 1980s, his three local Houston, Texas cable access TV series featuring local and regional original music, and live performances featuring set pieces plus spontaneous music and lyrics.
Career
Music
Schwartz began taking piano lessons and doing voice work on radio
commercials
A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...
at age five. The crew assembled to record spots for his father's furniture store in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Pat Conell, a local DJ on a 'race-music' station (who later became the first black network announcer), and two teenagers who wrote (
Don Kirshner
Donald Kirshner (April 17, 1934 – January 17, 2011) was an American music publisher, music consultant, rock music record producer, producer, talent manager, and songwriter. Dubbed "the Man with the Golden Ear" by Time (magazine), ''Time' ...
) and sang ( Bobby Darin) the jingles. Schwartz credits the witnessing of Darin's rise on the music charts as his primary inspiration for a lifetime in music.
At ten, after his family moved to
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, Texas in 1962, he switched to drums, then bass at 15. He attended Houston's
Memorial High School Memorial High School may refer to:
United States As ''Memorial High School'' alone
*Memorial High School (Millville, New Jersey)
*Memorial High School (West New York, New Jersey)
*Memorial High School (St. Marys, Ohio)
* Memorial High School (Tul ...
and was classmates with
Vince Bell
Vince Bell is a Texas singer-songwriter who has appeared on the PBS television program ''Austin City Limits'' along with NPR broadcasts such as '' Mountain Stage'', '' World Cafe'' and ''Morning Edition''. His songs have been performed and rec ...
, and
Bill Browder
William Felix Browder (born April 23, 1964) is an American-born British financier and political activist. He is the CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Hermitage Fund, which at one time was the large ...
. In 1966, as a fourteen-year-old, Schwartz met vocalist Ray Salazar and began gigging at
Old Market Square
The Old Market Square (Slab Square) is an open, pedestrianised city square in Nottingham, England, forming the heart of the city, and covering an area of approximately , or about 3 acres. It is one of the largest paved squares in the United K ...
in downtown Houston, at all-night clubs and dancehalls in Texas and southern
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, and on the east Texas soul circuit.
Schwartz did some of his early basswork behind Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins,
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often ...
, BW Stephenson and Blaze Foley.
While an opening act for Pete Samson & Roadmap in 1973, Schwartz met recording studio manager Roger Tausz and began his recording career and a lifelong association with Tausz. Using Roadmap as a studio band, Schwartz recorded four songs, including 'Ride That Train', which broke onto local, the regional radio, and 'I Found God At A Truckstop', which was recorded by many, including Pete Samson & Kinky Friedman, but only released by Samson & Schwartz. These small successes gave Schwartz the credibility and momentum on which he built his regional music career.
In 1976, Schwartz co-founded the band RELAYER, who only released one (RELAYER – 1977) of the three albums they recorded, but, found an underground
prog-rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
audience in the US and parts of Europe (partially thanks to the guitar work of Michael Knust from the Texas band
Fever Tree
''Vachellia xanthophloea'' is a tree in the family Fabaceae, commonly known in English as the fever tree. This species of ''Vachellia'' is native to eastern and southern Africa (Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Eswat ...
, and the similarity of the band's name with that of an album by British prog-rockers,
Yes
Yes or YES may refer to:
* An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no
Education
* YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US
* YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talente ...
).
In 1978, Schwartz released his first solo album, featuring collaborations with two dozen Texas musicians with whom he performed live (on guitar for the first time) in a loosely knit group called Guy Schwartz & The Zap Rhythm Band, including Knust, Tausz, Tony Braunagel and Billy Block, each of whom found careers in music.
In 1980, Schwartz teamed with Randy Soffar and formed Z-ROCKS, a new-wave power-pop band that had 3 minor regional hits fueled by touring with the likes of
Duran Duran
Duran Duran () are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger ...
,
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...
and
Huey Lewis and The News
Huey Lewis and the News are an American rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually achieving 19 top ten singles across the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, Adult Contempora ...
. After their first album was added to over 200 radio stations across the US, it was reviewed as 'too derivative'. Z-ROCKS never released its second album and disbanded in 1986.
From 1987 to 1997, Schwartz recorded and toured as a sideman, and went back to school (
University of Houston
The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...
) to study video production and digital media to keep up with the new digital music business.
In 1997, Tausz & Schwartz reunited to update and remix that first solo album, and went on to record another two dozen albums together, forming a band, THE NEW JACK HIPPIES, which toured the US and western Europe from 1999 until 2004, and still performs regionally in Texas. Schwartz tours as a solo, and performs on tour with other bands in their locales. Schwartz' repertoire includes rock songs,
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
,
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
and americana, with a bit of humor and songs about
weed
A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place", or a plant growing where it is not wanted.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. ...
thrown in for good measure.
Since 2001, Schwartz has settled into a 2-year cycle which includes and annual free local original music festival and TV shoot (SOUTH BY DUE EAST – now in its 14th year), production of the TV series, new films and an album of new songs every year or two, and 3–6 months of touring. He's also looked to the past and engineered reunion shows and recordings with The Zap Rhythm Band (new songs – released August 2014) and Z-ROCKS (new recordings of old songs – unreleased). In 2012, Schwartz formed a band full of Austin players (Guy Schwartz & The Affordables) to perform locally in Austin, Texas. A live album and DVD of that experience will be forthcoming in 2014 or 2015.
Video and film
Guy Schwartz & Marlo Blue formed their SIRIUS HIPPIES PRODUCTIONS and have produced (and Schwartz has directed) several films and television series based upon the careers and live performances of Texas musicians and the Texas music scene, as seen through Schwartz' events, concerts and 'ad hoc' unconventional touring. His film/video career was a natural extension of his local music journalism, and desire to promote the Houston, Texas original music scene, and his music, in the digital age.
Directing concert films on Billy Joe Shaver, Mr. Scarface and
Carolyn Wonderland
Carolyn Wonderland (born Carolyn Bradford, November 9, 1972) is an American blues singer-songwriter and musician. She is married to comedian and writer A. Whitney Brown.
Early life and education
Carolyn Wonderland was born Carolyn Bradford i ...
, as well as films about SOUTH BY DUE EAST and Schwartz' own New Jack Hippies, Schwartz & Blue have created three successful TV series – 'Hippies.TV' (14th season), 'SOUTH BY DUE EAST TELEVISION'(8th season), and 'Guy Schwartz' Road Journal'(4th season).
Schwartz has also created music videos for Texas artists, including
Trudy Lynn
Trudy Lynn (born August 9, 1947) is an American electric blues and soul blues singer and songwriter, whose recorded work has been released on twelve studio albums, one live album, and four compilation albums.
The Allmusic journalist, Alex Hende ...
(2), Steve Krase (2), Tom The Folksinger, Hogan & Moss, and Almost Endless Summer, as well as several videos for his own music releases.
Community events and activism
Guy Schwartz has served five elected terms on The Harris County Democratic Party Executive Committee, was a founding volunteer at Houston's Pacifica Radio station KPFT, founding a 'local music' program on the station in 1975, and has been active in movements to legalize marijuana and protect consumers and the middle class. He and Marlo Blue shoot & record bands and musicians at SOUTH BY DUE EAST (a Guerilla Marketing Experiment, Movie Shoot, & Indie Music Festival in Houston, Texas, USA.) every March since 2003, making TV shows,
indie film
An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, in ...
s, radio shows, podcasts and compilation CDs, and put them out there to promote the artists,Music News, March 2008, South By Due East, Guillermo Slazo and the Houston, Texas, USA original music community. They say that they "give the artists free video and mixed audio and hope it helps." Schwartz declared his non-partisan candidacy for the U.S. presidency in August, 2015, which was unsuccessful and ended in Iowa.In 2016, Schwartz, Blue & Tausz formed The Guy Schwartz Foundation for Houston's Original Music, a Texas non-profit aimed at archiving, supporting and promoting the original music, musicians, and music scene of Houston, Texas, USA.
Discography
Filmography
Films
* GOTTA KEEP THE MUSIC ALIVE – New Jack Hippies on Tour, 2002
* BLOODLESS REVOLUTION:Carolyn Wonderland In Amsterdam, 2004
* THE FORMALDEHYDE FUNK MEN LIVE January 23, 2005 starring Mr. Scarface, 2005
* Billy Joe Shaver: North Carolina 2006, 2007
* BLUESGUY'S ROCK-N-ROLL HOUSE PARTY, 2007
* PERFORMANCES, 2007
* SOUTH BY DUE EAST 2007, 2008
* Guy Schwartz' Guide To Jams & Open Mics. 2008
* RHYTHM & RHYME – A Tribute To Shannon Taylor, 2009
*
Teresa James & the Rhythm Tramps
Teresa (also Theresa, Therese; french: Thérèse) is a feminine given name.
It originates in the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity. Its derivation is uncertain, it may be derived from Greek θερίζω (''therízō'') "to harvest or rea ...
– ''Live At The Howling Coyote'', 2009
* THE AFFORDABLE TOUR, 2010
* LIVE IN AUSTIN:Guy Schwartz & The Affordables 2013
Television
* Hippies.TV – 15th Season
* SOUTH BY DUE EAST Television – 10th Season
* Guy Schwartz' Road Journal – 4th Season
* MUSICeveryMARCH – 2 Seasons