Biography
Folksinger, songpoet and multi-instrumentalist Chico Schwall plays more music on more instruments than anyone ought to do.
He has sung at Labor gatherings, played in pit bands, directed folk song camps for kids, designed music for plays, fiddled for contra dances, guested with orchestras, released three albums of original music and performed at festivals, clubs and venues of every stripe.
Born in Illinois, currently resident in Oregon, he rambles the Northwest with the Low Tide Drifters, hosts a weekly Irish music session, curates a concert series called "Chico Schwall's American Roots," teaches Everything with Strings at the Shedd Institute for the Arts and travels, mostly by rail, to sing and play all over the country.
His songwriting reflects his colorful musical upbringing, and suggests that there IS enough to go around, that we CAN figure out how to make it work better, that history matters and that hearts can heal.
"When i was a kid at recess time I'd go over to the place where the older kids did the high jump and the pole vault in gym class. There were two hollow metal posts set in the ground, with holes drilled in them for the pegs they used to hold the bar at various heights. When the wind blew those posts were like two giant randomly tuned flutes, singing as the wind blew across the holes. I could sit in the sand pit and listen to them until the teacher called me in off the playground. Always changing, always beautiful. I'm surprised everybody wasn't over there listening."
Show and Tour Information can be found at Chico's Website:
http://chicoschwall.net/gigs.html
Please also check out Chico's previous CD
Driving By Moonlight.