Fritz Schuler's performances have been called "A celebration of American Traditional Music" and rightly so. Schuler is a music historian, teacher, and performer of American rural folk music.
The songs that live in Fritz Schuler's head were written a long, long time ago. They are the soul of the country, born in the hearts of railroaders, hobos, outlaws, poor dirt farmers and lonesome cowboys. Songs about men and women who lived in Tougher times than these. As a keeper of the flame, Schuler has found the old 78's and listened to the scratchy sounds of old time jug bands, Hillbilly bands, blues singers and the wandering minstrel poets of the Great Depression. He has spent a great part of the last fifty years searching out, and learning from, some of the finest folk performers around and has learned to play country ballads, dulcimer tunes and banjo breakdowns in the styles of their originators, composers like the legendary Woody Guthrie, the great blues innovator Blind Willie McTell, and hillbilly songwriter Charlie Poole who ran moonshine in the mountains of North Carolina during the 1920's..
In performance, this time capsule is opened before you, you'll hear Appalachian Ballads, Banjo reels, dusty hobo songs, lonesome, black country blues, and much more -
“Fritz Schuler is a keeper of the Flame. He Picks Guitar and banjo and sings the old songs with finesse, exactitude and loving dedication. If you want to hear this music done the way it should be done-
Art Thieme
"When Fritz Schuler plays an Old Time banjo tune or sings a long forgotten folksong or wraps his fingers around his guitar to coax out the blues, it comes not only from a man who knows the music but from one who loves it. Listening to Fritz is always a pleasure"
Dan Keding
Sing Out! Magazine Columnist
"Being Wisconsin's Walking Folk Encyclopedia is probably the least you've done.. As a performer, I appreciate your commitment to the continued performance of traditional music and especially of an informed and educated performance. Your talents and abilities are obvious; it is your affection and respect for traditional music that makes your performances so compelling to me.”
Tom Martin-
founder of Wisconsin Public Radio's Simply Folk
"It was Fascinating seeing and hearing him play..there is no doubt he knows a bunch of plucked stringed instruments, can tell about their history and play them nimbly. Schuler sat in a chair with the body of the banjo held in the angle of his crossed right leg-
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Concert review
Green Bay Press-
"One of the most versatile performers of American Folk Music in the Midwest. He puts the lie to the old cliche: he's something of a jack-
Bill Rintz, host of "Folk Festival" on Springfield , Illinois NPR Radio Station WUIS
SELECTED APPEARANCES:
Schuler has performed all over the Midwest, at countless libraries, historical societies, colleges, museums, schools, banquets and coffeehouses . Taking American Folk Music across the ocean, he was a headline performer at the 1994 Seafest in Japan. Other notable performances include a Woody Guthrie tribute with Guthrie's sister, Mary Jo Edgmon. He has also been featured with the popular touring NPR radio show "Whad 'Ya Know" with Michael Feldman.
A brief, and very incomplete performance listing include:
The North Country Folk Festival (Ironwood, Mi.)
The Clayville Folk Festival (Springfield, Ill.)
The Neville Museum
(Green Bay, WI)
The Great River Traditional Folk Festival (La Crosse, WI.)
The Wisconsin Maritime Museum (Manitowoc, WI.)
The Alder House (Liberyville, Ill.)
The 19th Street Coffeehouse
(Milwaukee, WI.)
Silver Lake College
(Manitowoc, WI)
Prairie Grapevine Folklore Society Concert Series( Springfield,Ill.)
The John Michael Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI.)
The Cafe Carpe (Fort Atkinson, WI.)
The Clipper City Folk Festival (Manitowoc, WI)
The Blue Whale Coffeehouse
(Green Bay, WI.)
The Illinois Railway Museum
(Union, Ill.)
The National Railroad Museum ( Green Bay, WI)
