Biography
Washington State-based violinist and violist Anna Schaad first took up both piano and violin at five years old. For four years she performed with the Seattle Youth Symphony, and while still attending high school she received instruction from violist Paul Coletti at the University of Washington. She later enrolled at Evergreen State College, where she completed a degree in American History in 1991. After establishing herself in Bellingham, WA, Schaad broadened her playing into Celtic, blues, folk, and bluegrass idioms, working and recording locally with groups such as the Clumsy Lovers and Tom Landa & the Paperboys. Session contributions followed for Dana Lyons—on whose album Cows with Guns she also wrote the track “If I Had Known”—as well as for Lisa Thiel, Casey Neill, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Joanne Rand, and John Reinhold. Her first solo release, The Raven Project, appeared on May 1, 1998, via her own Raven Fiddle Productions imprint. Songspell, issued September 1, 1999, shared credit with Canadian multi-instrumentalist David MacVittie. The Journey followed on October 4, 2001. After relocating to Anacortes, WA, and marrying Navy pilot Jeff Montgomery, Schaad spent an extended period shaping her next project. That album, Dream Within a Dream, finally emerged on June 2, 2009, after an eight-year interval and introduced various techno and hip-hop textures into her sound.
Albums
