Jack Schneider’s inaugural record is a testament to tradition, timelessness, and the modern relevance of old ways

Best Be On My Way is out now; Collaborators include Vince Gill, David Rawlings, and more

Americana newcomer Jack Schneider’s debut LP, Best Be On My Way, is a testament to tradition, timelessness, and the modern relevance of old ways. Schneider is a budding record producer, wise songwriter, NYU grad, Vince Gill’s rhythm guitarist, and, very relevant to this album’s recording process, a tape machine enthusiast. In spite of a few reluctant anachronisms, the recording of Best Be On My Way was a scene plucked straight from 1972 with a cast of some of Nashville’s most beloved musical characters—the aforementioned Gill, David Rawlings, Stuart Duncan, Dennis Crouch, and more—huddled around vintage microphones running straight to tape; the tried and true, old school way. The resulting album feels warm and lively, full of compelling stories and unforgettable sonic motifs. Best Be On My Way should be a shoo-in for fans of The Band, Bob Dylan, or James Taylor—and contemporary favorites like Gillian Welch, Watchhouse, or The Avett Brothers.

Best Be On My Way is out now and can be streamed or purchased at this link, and be sure to check out the official music video for “Josephine” and an intimate, in-studio version of “Don’t Look Down.” Schneider will be performing on the world-famous Grand Ole Opry on November 29th. For upcoming tour dates and ticket information, please visit jackschneidermusic.com/tour.

Best Be On My Way In The News:

“Some truly great songs. This doesn’t feel like a debut at all.” – Fretboard Journal

“If listening to Jack Schneider feels like traveling back in time then maybe that’s because in some ways you are. Records are capable of taking you places and Jack Schneider and his band have every intention of setting you on a journey back through the years to a time when everything felt a little more real somehow.” – Holler

“‘Marietta,’ like the rest of the album, was recorded live to tape, an element that leaves the song feeling like a vintage record lost to time and lends it a refreshing vitality.” – Under The Radar

More About Best Be On My Way: Best Be On My Way was recorded on a hot day in June at Nashville’s Sound Emporium. Inside the air-conditioned studio, there was a slight quiver in the air—the hum of a tape machine, the impression that the atmosphere was churning inside a black-and-white photograph. There was an unspoken sense, among those who knew Schneider well, of momentousness: the session itself felt as though it were a real-life culmination of a long and tenuous journey on Schneider’s part, in which he had collected friends and strangers along the way and gathered them together for the odyssey’s retelling. From childhood friends to recent mentors, the motley crew of musicians sat in a wide circle in the live room as around a campfire, much to the contemporarily trained Engineers’ dismay. The players themselves were evidence of a gap Schneider is bridging between musical generations: Grammy award-winning artists Vince Gill and David Rawlings played alongside both Stuart Duncan and Dennis Crouch—longtime Nashville session musicians—and Liv Greene and Griffin Photoglou, two twenty-something artists fresh out of college.

Throughout the long months of quarantine, Schneider began working intensively with former Gruhn Guitars colleague and frequent collaborator, Wes Langlois. Shut up in the studio together for weeks, the two wrote, recorded, and released what they referred to as “vanishing albums:” full-length records accessible for a week at a time each during the pandemic, after which they were removed from streaming services and unavailable for physical purchase. It was from these ephemeral collections of songs that the seed for Schneider’s (permanent) debut record was born.

Best Be On My Way Tracklist:

Josephine

Farewell Carolina

Marietta

Tennessee

Best Be On My Way

Don’t Look Down

Slow Things Down

Nothing Left To Show

In The Morning

Del Rio Blues

More About Jack Schneider: The world of Jack Schneider is one strewn with eccentricity and nostalgia, where a New York cowboy wanders the streets of East Nashville donning a Stetson Range, a purist philosophy, and his beloved 1956 Martin D28 guitar, Big Jim. He is, as some would say, a Nashville triple threat guitarist, songwriter, and singer, in addition to producer, guitar collector, and tape machine enthusiast. Born in New York and raised in Georgia, Schneider picked up the guitar at three years old and began making trips to Nashville when he was in high school. There he sought out the legendary Gruhn Guitars, hoping to quench his insatiable thirst for knowledge of fretted instruments. Despite attending university in New York City, Schneider spent most school breaks and long weekends in Music City, working summers at Gruhn’s; it was there that he met and befriended Vince Gill, among other musical heroes. With one foot in New York and one in Nashville, Jack expanded his network as a session player and an artist in both cities, gracing the stages of The Bitter End and The Bluebird Cafe with equal character and charm.

Upon graduating from NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music in 2019, Schneider added rapidly to his laundry list of accomplishments: touring with Vince Gill as both guitar tech and rhythm guitar player; producing records for multiple up and coming Nashville artists (recorded to tape, of course); releasing his first singles to critical acclaim; and playing the Grand Ole Opry. Throughout the long months of quarantine, Schneider began working intensively with former Gruhn Guitars colleague and frequent collaborator, Wes Langlois. Shut up in the studio together for weeks, the two wrote, recorded, and released what they referred to as “vanishing albums:” full length records accessible for a week at a time each during the pandemic, after which they were removed from streaming services and unavailable for physical purchase. It was from these ephemeral collections of songs that the seed for Schneider’s (permanent) debut record was born.

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