can. Artist Von Schmidt had a parallel career as a painter, and created album covers for Baez, Cisco Houston, John Renbourn, Reverend Gary Davis, the Blue Velvet Band, Jackie Washington Landron and for James Baldwin's readings. He also created the cover for The Blues Project compendium of white blues performers (Elektra EKL-264, 1964). Von Schmidt illustrated a 1973 book of twenty-five ghost stories called The Haunting of America, by Jean Anderson. In the final 30 years of his life, Von Schmidt recorded only two records, and instead focused on his art career. Four years before his death, von Schmidt painted his last epic of American history. The canvas' subject was of Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery honoring its bicentennial. He also continued work on his "Giants of the Blues" series of paintings. Von Schmidt also illustrated numerous children's books including a number of collaborations with Sid Fleischman. Awards and legacy Von Schmidt was known for an exuberant musical style that he liked to apply to American folk classics. "Eric's got that wild spirit, and he doesn't water the music down for polite society," Ramblin' Jack Elliott told The Boston Globe in 1996. Von Schmidt's music has been recorded by Travis MacRae and Jeff Buckley. In 2000, the same year he was diagnosed with throat cancer, he was honored with the ASCAP Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award at an event fittingly held at Club Passim, his old stomping ground when it was named Club 47. The highlight of the event was a reunion of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band including Maria Muldaur, Geoff Muldaur, Fritz Richmond, and, for the first time in over twenty years, Jim Kweskin. In 1997, he won a Grammy Award for his work on a compilation album entitled Anthology of American Folk Music, Vol. 1-3. He painted up until his death, and completed an epic mural of the Battle of the Alamo. Von Schmidt was twice divorced and had two daughters. He suffered a stroke in August 2006, and died six months later, at the age of 75. Discography Albums Compilations Come for to Sing, Pathways of Sound, 1963 The Blues Project, Elektra, 1964 Folklore Jamboree, Prestige Records, 1964 The Newport Folk Festival 1965, Vanguard Records, 1965 Take a Trip with Me: Psychedelic Hits", Prestige Records, 197? Bleecker & McDougal: The Folk Scene of the 60s, Elektra, 1984 Blues in the Bottle, Big Beat Records, 1988 Troubadours