SW Minnesota farmer chasing the big lights of country music
Schmitz steps away from his tractor in Currie and opens for multi-platinum recording artist Lauren Alaina
MARSHALL — Performing under the spotlight in one capacity or another has always been Blake Schmitz’s career aspirations, but it changed from competing in stadium lights to singing under stage lights.
Schmitz, a local farmer from Currie, is making his way through the music industry as a growing country artist. The 21-year old opened for Lauren Alaina at Prairie Jam last week, and has grown from 400 monthly listeners on music streaming services to nearly 160,000 just since January of this year.
“I never thought I would ever be making music, to be honest with you, or be in the position I am today,” Schmitz said. “(Growing up), I was an athlete. I was like ‘Hey, let’s go to the pros and go play in some big stadiums, and have a great time.’ That got cut short because of COVID … Some offers got pulled and whatnot.”
Schmitz played football, basketball, baseball and ran track. As a professional athletic career began to fade out, he tapped back into other interests he had growing up, including songwriting.
“Songwriting has always been there in my life since middle school and high school. I was just doing it as a therapy kind of way, a diary or journal,” Schmitz said. “Then a series of different events (took place). Different events from when I went out to New Jersey, had a culture shock out there with different types of music.”
Getting into music passionately was a sign of fate for Schmitz, as he started to meet others involved in the industry naturally, which continued to urge him into the career.
“I was just always doing some freestyling at parties, all these little random things came together,” Schmitz said. “I met my producer (Jake Luke) playing basketball on a random day. Next thing you know, we’re making music … I call it God’s plan, because I never thought I’d be doing this, but he’s got a better plan for me.”
Schmitz’s first time on a stage was a musical in high school, and he initially didn’t think it would spark a lifelong interest.
“I used to take choir for the easy ‘A,’ like everyone did … I hopped in a musical one time,
kind of just kind of did it and had a great time. Never thought anything past it,” Schmitz said. “Then, the valedictorian on graduation day, she invited me and we wrote a song together, a parody of ‘Baby’ by Justin Bieber, and we performed that and surprised everyone … I just kind of did it for fun. Next thing you know, it turned into a career as well.”
Schmitz released his first album “All Of You & Me” in June 2023. He approaches songwriting as a vulnerable and creative space.
“I’m always alone, that’s number one. I’m either driving a tractor, a semi, a skid steer, any sort of equipment. I’m always just alone; me, my thoughts and I,” Schmitz said. “I would say a lot of (songwriting is) what’s going on in my life, whether it be love, love lost, or just other things that have happened. It’s just kind of like a personal diary or journal.”
Other inspirations to approach songwriting come from challenging himself with the dictionary.
“On a couple of songs, like on ‘Avenue’ I just came out with … I was like, ‘Oh, what should I come up with, I don’t know,'” Schmitz said. “I went to the dictionary, and the word of the day was ‘frisson.’ So, I built that whole song off of a word in the dictionary.”
Schmitz said he loves the aspect of both singing and songwriting. Last year, he would write a song every day, and he now aims to release a new song every two weeks. He is currently in the process of exploring the idea of putting together a tour in the nearby future.
“I’ve met so many people from across the world that I would have never met if I didn’t do this,” Schmitz said. “I believe life is short, and if you don’t take risks, it’s not worth it. Taking that bet on myself and just believing in myself, I think I’ve grown so much personally just chasing this dream of mine.”
The support from his family has also pushed Schmitz to pursue after his goals wholeheartedly.
“I love every time I’m running to my mom and dad, they roll down the window and it’s one of my songs playing,” Schmitz said. “It’s a very fun thing, and my favorite thing is writing that next song. Writing is what got me into it. Coming up with that song, trying to make one better than the last. I just love it. Learning new things makes it so fun.”
Schmitz’s music can be found on all music streaming platforms by his name.
Despite his young career, Schmitz has already established a strong network and amassed significant live performance experience. He will use this foundation to continue fueling his musical journey, and get under the big lights.
“I thought I was going to be playing in stadiums, but my goal is to start selling out stadiums,” Schmitz said. “That would be the dream