Pitchfork

An inspiration to Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and countless others, folk singer/songwriter Eric von Schmidt passed away on February 2 in Fairfield, Connecticut, according to The New York Times. Eric was 75; the exact cause of death is not known at this time.

Son of Saturday Evening Post illustrator Harold von Schmidt-- and a skilled artist in his own right, painting album covers for Baez and others-- Eric von Schmidt re-worked folk classics and composed quite a few of his own, releasing several albums after settling in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the late 1950s. It was there that he would meet-- and influence-- Dylan, Baez, and others in the burgeoning folk scene.

Dylan, in particular, lauded the man extensively, declaring von Schmidt "could sing the bird off the wire and the rubber off the tire" in the liner notes to one of the latter's records. Dylan also shouted out "Ric" in the opening to "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down" (which von Schmidt taught Dylan) on Dylan's first LP, and included a von Schmidt LP on the cover of 1965's Bringing It All Back Home.

Along with Jim Rooney, von Schmidt penned a book about the Cambridge folk scene titled Baby, Let Me Follow You Down. While throat cancer and Lyme disease stifled his playing and singing in recent years, von Schmidt continued painting until his death.

Eric is survived by daughters Caitlin von Schmidt and Megan Richardson, as well as three grandsons.