Chances are, that when Claudia Schmidt is not in her restaurant back home in Michigan, you’ll find her on the road or in the studio. In her twenty-six year career, Schmidt has recorded eleven albums of (mostly) original songs. She plays folk, blues, and jazz on 12-string guitar and mountain dulcimer. Yet her voice may be her finest instrument -- she often lets loose with stunning vocalizations, wordless stories that are haunting and spellbinding. You can feel the joy.
      Her latest works are “Wings of Wonder,” which features a host of new songs and backup by Dean Magraw and Peter Ostroushko (from A Prairie Home Companion), and a new jazz CD called “Claudia Schmidt and the Jump Boys,” recorded “live” in the studio, that shows a nice balance between up-tempo and ballad material. Schmidt’s range and maturity are evident in these two different recordings. “Wings of Wonder” captures a woman’s dreams in mid-life and demonstrates a rare power to draw in the listener. Her jazz CD includes standards and lesser-known pieces such as Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin’s “My Ship,” which was sung in the 1940s by Geraldine Lawrence.
      Whether she’s singing an Ellington standard or a self-penned folk song, Schmidt’s honesty and passion shine through. As one jazz critic observed, “She comes at you straight from the shoulder, letting the listener feel the full impact of her delivery, leaving nothing behind.”