Jim Ohlschmidt was featured twice in Fingerstyle Guitar magazine in 2009 for his work on “It’s The Wood,” a collection of original acoustic guitar music produced by Pete Huttlinger. A native son of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Ohlschmidt first appeared in the Twin Cities in 1976 when he recorded his first solo guitar LP, “Behind The Eye,” at Sound 80 studios. A friend of Jim’s attending Macalester College took the finished album to Garrison Keillor, who liked it enough to begin booking Ohlschmidt as a guest instrumentalist on A Prairie Home Companion periodically from 1977-80.
Since then Jim has played around the country and abroad, and has recorded seven solo CDs, including “Not About Me” a collection of original songs written and recorded in Birmingham, Alabama, and two CDs of songs by Mississippi John Hurt. Since 2005, Ohlschmidt has been a regular performer and emcee at the annual summer music festival in Avalon, Mississippi that honors Hurt and his music. Ohlschmidt’s faithful renditions of Mississippi John Hurt’s songs have been featured on Dale Connelly’s Radio Heartland HD radio program.
Ohlschmidt has also been a regular free-lance contributor to national guitar magazines since 1979. His name is especially familiar to readers of Acoustic Guitar magazine, which for many years featured Ohlschmidt’s writings on such major fingerstyle guitarists as Leo Kottke, Merle Travis, Charlie Byrd, Earl Klugh, and Jerry Reed. Jim’s articles are also featured prominently in Mister Guitar, a magazine dedicated to the life and music of Chet Atkins.
In addition to recording and performing his own music, Ohlschmidt has made five CDs with singer/songwriter Mae Robertson, and plays electric guitar with the Star Devils, a traditional rockabilly trio from Cincinnati that recently played a three-week tour of England and Scotland. Jim performs locally with the Boxcar Scholars at Dunn Brothers Coffee on Grand in St. Paul, and on Saturday mornings at the Black Sheep Café in South St. Paul with Alternate Route, an informal bluegrass band. Jim currently teaches fingerstyle guitar at the Homestead Pickin’ Parlor in Richfield, MN, and also teaches in the guitar program at Lakeland College, Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
Jim lives with his family in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota.
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