Bob Schneider

Multiband heading, multigenre-bending singer-songwriter Bob Schneider has earned praise on top of praise in his adopted hometown of Austin, Texas. But translating his charms to a wider audience has been elusive for this prolific songwriter. Beginning in his early teens, Schneider has fronted at least a half dozen bands, including the Ugly Americans, a band that garnered a record deal and toured in support of Big Head Todd and the Monsters and the Dave Matthews Band in the mid 1990s. Soon afterwards he founded the Scabs, a loosely defined punk-funk band that played almost any sort of danceable music. Perhaps in contrast to the Scabs, Schneider also developed a solo group built around his adult alternative material. After signing with Universal, Schneider released the album Lonelyland and snared a blip of commercial interest with the song "Big Blue Sea." The album didn't catch on and the band was dropped after the label heard the follow-up, I'm Good Now. Vanguard picked up Schneider and in 2004 released the record, a mix of adult alternative, folky punk and barroom rock. Schneider continues to tour as a solo act and as leader of the Scabs.