Folk & Bluegrass Great Tracy Schwarz Passes

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Tracy Schwarz

Best known for his work in The New Lost City Ramblers, fiddler/singer Tracy Schwarz passed away on March 29 in Elkins, West Virginia at age 86.

Raised in New Jersey and Vermont, Schwarz took up the guitar as a pre-teen after listening to country radio stations. He mastered the fiddle in the 1950s, and immersed himself in the bluegrass scene in Washington, D.C. while attending college there.

After serving in the Army for two years, he joined Mike Seeger and John Cohen in forming The New Lost City Ramblers in 1962. The group began as old-time music revivalists, but soon absorbed the bluegrass, folk and Cajun influences that Schwarz brought to the band.

The New Lost City Ramblers became one of the mainstays of Folkways Records. The band recorded nine albums for the label between 1964 and 2009. The New Lost City Ramblers collaboration with country-music legend Cousin Emmy was a highlight in 1968.

Tracy Schwarz and Mike Seeger also recorded as members of The Strange Creek Singers in 1972. That group was the launchpad for the feminist old-time duo Hazel & Alice (Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard), who influenced The Judds.

During his career’s 50+ additional years, Tracy Schwarz also recorded four solo albums, four others with Cajun master Dewey Balfa and three with Schwarz’s musical family.

He was an enthusiastic educator of traditional music styles and made several fiddle instruction albums. The Folkways website printed this as a eulogy: “He fervently believed that anyone who was interested in learning how to play an instrument or sing, could.

His infectious enthusiasm and innovative methods helped generations of students around the world to develop their skills.”

Robert K Oermann
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