Tracy Schwarz
Best known for
Fiddle
Tracy Schwarz was a New York-born fiddler and singer whose 1962 seat in the New Lost City Ramblers (replacing Tom Paley alongside John Cohen and Mike Seeger) and co-founding role in the Strange Creek Singers placed him at the heart of the postwar urban folk revival's old-time tradition.
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- Born November 13, 1938 in Manhattan, New York; died March 29, 2025 at age 86.
- Joined the New Lost City Ramblers in 1962, replacing founding member Tom Paley, alongside John Cohen and Mike Seeger.
- Multi-instrumentalist: fiddle, guitar, banjo, accordion; sang in plaintive unaccompanied mountain style.
- Co-founder of Strange Creek Singers with Alice Gerrard, Hazel Dickens, Mike Seeger, and Lamar Grier.
- Released solo Smithsonian Folkways instructional album "Learn To Fiddle Country Style" (1965); cut Cajun instructional records in the 1970s with Dewey Balfa.
- Earned three Grammy nominations across his recorded work.
- Married singer Ginny Hawker (b. April 22, 1940); performed and taught as a duo for decades from Elkins, West Virginia.
- Studied Russian at Georgetown; immersed in the Washington, D.C. folk-revival scene before joining NLCR.
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Hazel Dickens and Alice GerrardPlayed on recordings with Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard
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The New Lost City RamblersPlayed on recording with The New Lost City Ramblers
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The Old Home String BandPlayed on recording with The Old Home String Band