From the PITTSBURGH FORUM of 18 April 1975, used by permission

Vivien Richman said they’d hired the biggest living room in town so all Bob Schmertz’s friends could join in and, without a doubt, last Saturday night’s concert at Carnegie Lecture Hall by Bob Schmertz, Family and Friends was the friendliest place in town. Six hundred loyal souls, old friends and new, introduced themselves to people they’d never seen before, chuckled knowingly as the verses rolled along and sang the refrains to Bob’s folk songs with unabashed enthusiasm. The occasion was a benefit toward publication of the first formal collection of 21 Schmertz songs with his own illustrations, but any night with Bob Schmertz is a night to remember.

Who is this enigma, Robert Schmertz - architect, poet, composer, artist and musician? Why do whole families crowd into a smoky landmark post office on the North Side to hear him, or stand singing and clapping in a pouring summer rain while Pete Seeger (who says that Bob is his favorite folk song writer) leads them in choruses of “Monongahela Sal” from the semi-shelter of a river barge?

Well, he’s been called the Poet Laureate of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, troubador of the two-by-four (by Charley Stotz), a folk-song writer (by George Swetnam - “and he ought to know!” says Bob) and Poppa by members of his group who are not all related to him. (He’s a long-time member of the Fellows Club, and God only knows what they call him!) But no matter who calls him what, I’ve never heard an unkind word uttered in his name and he is held in highest esteem and loving regard by those who know him either personally or through his songs.

In 77 years he’s collected a lot of friends and it’s no surprise, for he is ever a gentleman. His wit is full of kindness, a vanishing trait; he is sensitive to the humor in human foibles; and while he brings religion into his songs he never points a finger at anyone, even the villains and exotic characters who populate his verses. His songs are mainly humorous, often satiric, with topical, spiritual and historical themes - earthy and elegant at the same time. If it’s possible to dignify a precariously ribald situation, Bob’s unpredictable lyrics give it a grace and style that satisfies the most delicate taste. In the program Gretchen Schmertz Jacob, Bob’s daughter, sang “Harriet Haines”, the almost-heart-rending ballad of a scholarly damsel who, while cataloging anthropological remains in the Ligonier Valley, pined away for her equine-infatuated lover uncriticized by her chronicler, even though they had “lost their reserve in the wild game preserve.” And when Vivien put all the strength of her powerful voice into “Lord, Lord, I’ve got some singing to do - don’t take me, Lord, too soon!” there wasn’t an atheist in the house.

Bob’s unpretentious manner allows us to feel that because we can participate so completely in the performance we are, at least for a little while, almost as clever and witty and multi-faceted as he is. While Bob’s performance skills are not what they have been (he explained that arthritis in his left hand reduced the banjo to the status of a prop) the technical slips served to humanize the singers and musicians. Indeed, the obvious enjoyment of the group made the performance more like a three-ring circus, with doting concern focused on Poppa. We were all in the thick of it; the audience loved it as much as those on stage. The audience responded to Bob’s two offerings with a standing ovation after the finale, “Gideon Bible”.

Much should be said for each person on stage, but I haven’t the space. Gretchen, lead singer after her father and rhythm accompanist, extracted every nuance from the house with “The Queen Anne Front”, with appropriate accompaniment and musical asides from brother Jack Schmertz on flute with assists from Gordon Davidson (age 15) on oboe and Warren Davidson (age 14) on violin, clarinet and sax. Myra Elmers, the other senior member of the group, charmed us with her dulcimer-accompanied renditions of “Never Touch Water” and “Pretty Little Turtle Dove”. Anne Shapiro’s gentle contralto caressed each phrase of “The Lonely Grenadier” and teased out the hilarity of one of Bob’s later songs, “Merry Madcap Moskowitz, the Toast of Tel Aviv” - a world premier. Director, singer and musician Jo Davidson, father of the two instrumentalists, led us through “Amazing Grace”, the only hymn Bob wasn’t “so damn tired of hearing.” Vivien, Jo and Chuck Cubelic retold Bob’s timeless tale of George Washington at “The Forks of the Ohio”, then Viv joined with Carol Saunders and took the house apart with “Ride On”, which Carol wrote after the 1968 incident in Montgomery, Alabama. The Cannonball Trio (Carol with Dave Bergholz and Dan Muss) maintained the evening’s high quality with rollicking medleys of traditional folk songs, and should only let us hear them more often.

Obviously Bob is no doomsayer, but neither does he ignore the deeper emotions of life. When I talked with him at rehearsal he said he’d never written a love song, couldn’t get the hang of it. At that moment, Anne Shapiro sang “The Lonely Grenadier” to the silenced singers crowded into the Schmertz living room and I said, “Oh, yes you did.” Bob reflected, “I can’t believe I wrote that. It’s so beautiful.” Later he told Anne that her rendition of his song “always makes me weep.”

If there are few Schmertz love songs per se, it must be because he has so much respect for the emotion and too much intensity of feeling to organize with the dignity, grace and restraint which are the hallmark of his music. Had he not written “The Lonely Grenadier”, “Christmas Song for Gretchen” (a lullaby for his grandson, Rob) and a few others, Bob Schmertz might be known as a clever songwriter with an incredible word machine in his head. Since he has written them, we are able to glimpse the depth and breadth of his sensitivity, understand our own humanity a little better and rejoice in it with him.

Since I grew up with Bob Schmertz’s music, I hope you’ll pardon my prejudice. He and his banjo have been frequent visitors to my father’s house and I feel I should thank him for many things. It is through him that I discovered folk music, a bit of architecture and local history, and the artistry of grand old men.