An eclectic blend of original folk, folk/rock, bluegrass, reggae, delta blues and other flavors, kinda stitched together with humor floss.

12 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Folk Blues, ROCK: Folk Rock



Details:
Roy Schneider is an award-winning singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and syndicated cartoonist. He is the creator of the comic strip "The Humble Stumble" from United Feature Syndicate.

'The Humble Sessions' is the combined product of Roy's two creative fields, each musical piece inspired by a particular character or situation from the strip, although you need not be familiar with the strip to enjoy the music.

"This was kind of a wacky departure for me. I've traditionally expressed my serious side through music, and the lighter side through comics. I always thought it would be fun to try and combine the two somehow, but didn't have a clue or any real inspiration for it. I finally woke up one morning in August 2006 with the chorus to "There Goes Mr. Humble" chiming through my head, grabbed my guitar and started writing.

'The album has turned out to be a blend of everything from the fun and frivolous to the more serious/emotional contexts of the strip's semi-autobiographical core (a single father raising his daughter). I think everyone either knows someone or IS someone kind of like each of the characters being serenaded here, so the songs stand on their own without the listener having to be familiar with The Humble Stumble.

'There are a lot of fun connections going on; Tommy Robbins, for example, is a somewhat cruelly-exaggerated caricature of my real-life good friend, Tom Robbins (and yes, somehow, we remain friends). Tom is the real-life owner of the 1922 Gibson mando/banjo heard on track 8, "Tommy Robbins." The family dog in the strip is named Grisman, my small tribute to Mandolin Maestro and vintage instrument aficionado David Grisman. So, naturally, in recording a song about this dawg, I had to use a vintage mandolin as the lead instrument (a 1914 Gibson). Lincoln's character plays banjo in the strip, so his songs "Sittin' on Yer Heinie" and "Workin' on the Bus" had to feature banjo. "Molly's Song" showcases the wonderful talent of fiddler Mark Caudill, as Molly's character plays the violin. My daughter, Maya, on whom Molly's character is based (when she was quite a bit younger), appears as the voice of Molly on "Nana's Haus." And so on.

'After 25 years in music, this is my first 'official' CD. If it can help folks to laugh, dance, smile or just relax a minute, I'm happy!"

Roy Schneider