Tony Schaffer: One triple threat of a storyteller

How did a small-town kid from Monroeville, Ohio end up with so much on his plate?  

Involved in numerous musical endeavors — including The Womack Brothers Family Band, his solo acoustic work and his gig with Chris Castle — it’s a wonder Tony Schaffer manages to keep up with himself.  

Only 23, Schaffer has shared the stage with such artist as Chris Hillman (The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers), Herb Pederson (James Taylor), Tommy Ramone (The Ramones) and Junior Brown, to name a few. Not that Schaffer is one to name-drop. He’s too modest for that, and far more concerned with the integrity of the music itself — paying homage to music’s history, respecting its storytelling origins, yet still remaining relevant to our day and age.  

In short, you could say he’s a breath of fresh air and a gust from the past.  

“We’re standing on the shoulders of giants,” he says. Giants, he adds, that must be recognized, studied and respected. A self-study in musical history, Schaffer cites numerous influences: Bach, Beethoven, Scott Joplin, Robert Johnson, Hank Williams, Sr., Miles Davis, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Talking Heads… and that’s just getting started. This wide array of influence and knowledge also manifests itself in the instruments Schaffer has taken up, which include but are not limited to guitar, bass, drums, piano, mandolin, banjo, accordion, banjo-lele and organ. In his own words, “anything that makes a sound.”

Schaffer is perhaps most known for his work with Chris Castle, a folk musician originally from New London. Castle’s most recent work, “Crazy Wind,” was recorded at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, New York by Grammy-winning engineer Justin Guip. The recording, for which Schaffer was in-studio, features him singing harmony and playing bass to Castle’s lead vocals and guitar.

It all started with a love for all things heavy metal. After dabbling in metal bands, Schaffer realized that for the most part, it was all about who’s louder and who’s faster, “all very ego-driven,” he said. So if the hate, loudness and egocentricity of the metal sector don’t drive Schaffer, what does?

“Honesty,” he said. His music, he claims, is what he is, and to play anything other than that would be unacceptable. “We turn on the radio and we’re just like, God, please, just say something real!” He and his band mate Noah Heyman (of The Womack Brothers Family Band) laughed. “We know people are hungry for it. I mean, we’re hungry for it!”

So where does the storytelling come in? According to Schaffer, it allows you to put the burden of being alive on a character that may not exist. As far back as history goes, “stories have always been the medium for human beings to get their truth out there,” he said. “Storytelling is important to me, but I want to do it through simple nouns.”

This combination of simplicity, purity and truthfulness are uniting threads that you’ll find in any of Schaffer’s musical projects.   

As for works in progress, Schaffer is currently busy writing and recording his own solo acoustic album, tentatively called “Notes & Letters,” which he plans to release by the end of the year.

“It’s about 70 percent done,” he said, a sly smile on his face. “All that’s left is the recording.”