# Tim Schuller

Tim "Mit" Schuller (né Fredric Thomas Schuller; Salem, Ohio – 29 February 2012, Dallas, Texas) was an American, Dallas–Fort Worth-based music critic, who, for 37 years – from 1975 until his death – chronicled living blues and jazz musicians, mostly from Texas (particularly from the Dallas–Fort Worth area and the Southwest).

## Career

Some of Schullers writings – notably those about Freddie King, Buster Smith, and Lightnin' Hopkins – have been cited in academic and encyclopedic publications. According to a Buddy magazine staff editor, Schuller provided blues pianist Boston Smith (né Boston Beverly Smith; 1907–1989) (Buster Smith's brother) with an epitaph worthy of his achievements.
He also was an update editor of the 2002 revised edition of MusicHound Blues: The Essential Album Guide (Schirmer Trade Books / Omnibus Press). At the time of his death, he had been writing a book, Scorning All Borders, covering 30 years of writing about Texas jazz and blues artists.

## Early years

Schuller was born in Salem, Ohio, to Frederick Kane Schuller (1908–1956) and Mary Louise Layden (maiden; 1912–2005). Tim's father, who had been a newspaper journalist, died when he was seven. As a teenager, Tim attended Salem High School, graduating in 1967. During his senior year, he was the feature editor of the Salem Quaker, his high school newspaper. Tim went on to study at Kent State University at Salem, but did not graduate. In Ohio, Schuller had worked as a musician (playing guitar), a factory worker, and a stringer reporter.
Schuller then moved to Chicago with his childhood friend from Salem, Tom "Mot" Dutko (né Thomas Lawrence Dutko; 1949–2017), a blues drummer. Who went on to record with Little Al Thomas and the Crazy Horse Band, Billy Branch, and Eddie Shaw. In Chicago, Schuller played with Robert Lockwood Jr. and John Brim. Dutko also played drums for Big Walter Horton, Sunnyland Slim, Homesick James, Jimmy Walker, Erwin Helfer, and Eddie Taylor.
Schuller moved to Dallas around 1977 and briefly embarked in the record business. In 1977, he was worked at Peaches Records & Tapes at Cole and Fitzhugh Avenues, Dallas. Ken E. Shimamoto (born 1957), a music journalist in Dallas worked there with him. In 1980, Schuller was assistant manager at Sound Town at the Valley View Mall in Dallas.
Over the next 35 years, Schuller contributed to the following newspapers, periodicals, and records:
Periodicals and newspapers
* Guitar Player, Living Blues, Blues Access
* The Met (Dallas' arts & entertainment weekly)
* Southwest Blues
* DownBeat
* Buddy magazine
* Texas Jazz
* Juke Blues
* Coda
* Crazy Music (the journal of the Australian Blues Society)
* D Magazine
* Dallas Morning News,
* Dallas Observer
* Texas Observer
* Contemporary Keyboard
* Texas Highways
* Akron Beacon Journal
Discography
* Lucky Seven Records
* Black Top
* Trix
* Wolf Records (de) (Vienna, Austria)
* Bullseye Blues
* Fedora Records
* Blind Pig
* TKO Magnum Music
* Blue Moon
* Continental Blue Heaven (distributed by Harmonia Mundi)
* Cannonball Records (nl) 29110
* AudioQuest Music
* TopCat Records
* Mayhem Records
* JSP

## Affiliations

* In 1987, Schuller – with Chuck Nevitt (né Charles Franklin Nevitt; 1956–2015) (record collector), Brian "Hash Brown" Calway (né Brian Everett Calway; born 1955) (blues musician) – founded the Dallas Blues Society.

## Tributes

* Tim Schuller benefit, Poor David's Pub, Dallas, May 27, 2012

## Father, family, and death

Schuller's father, Fred Kane Schuller had been a journalist in Pennsylvania and Ohio with over 13 newspapers, He had been in the editorial staff with the Youngstown Telegram (around 1935), staff editor for several years at the Cleveland News, night sports editor at the Pittsburgh Press (around 1940), editorial staff of the Daily News (McKeesport, Pennsylvania), managing editor of the Lorain Journal, and, near his death, worked for a stint at the Saint Petersburg Times. He was also an AP writer and contributor to Collier's and the Saturday Evening Post. He was a personal friend of John Barrymore, and after his death, corresponded with the family, including Lionel Barrymore.
Schuller's mother, Mary Louise Layden (maiden), died in 2005 in New York City. His older sister, Molly Davis (née Molly Lou Schuller) has lived in New York City since the 1950s.
Tim Schuller died February 29, 2012, in Dallas. He is buried in Salem, Ohio, at Grandview Cemetery.

## Notes about cited periodicals and labels
### Books

* MusicHound Blues: The Essential Album Guide (1998) Edited by Leland Rucker Foreword by Al Kooper  1st Paper, 1st Printing edition (1997)  Visible Ink Press  OCLC 44504664, 244114213  ISBN 1-5785-9030-2  ISBN 978-1-5785-9030-8  ––––––––––––––––––––  Revised & updated (January 1, 2002)  Leland Rucker (ed.)  Al Kooper (forward)  Tim Schuller (update editor)  Schirmer Trade Books  Omnibus Press  OCLC 49244319  ISBN 0-8256-7267-8  ISBN 978-0825-6726-75

### Periodicals

* The Met, Dallas-Fort Worth area arts and entertainment weekly, founded in 1994 by Randy Stagen (born 1970), an SMU alumnus. Eric James Celeste (born 1967) was founding editor; ISSN 1075-2501
* Texas Jazz, Dale McFarland, publisher (founded as the Dallas Jazz News letter [1 page typed], then the Dallas Jazz News [folded tabloid], then Texas Jazz [tabloid], then Texas Ragg [tabloid]; monthly that ran from May 1977 to November 1983); OCLC 21012332, 5352346, 32376967, 9185327
* Living Blues, a partner publication of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, University of Mississippi; digital version at digital.livingblues.com; ISSN 0024-5232
* Blues Access (suspended publication 2002); Leland Rucker (né Leland Garold Rucker; born 1947) was editor for 5 years; digital access at www.bluesaccess.com/ba_home.html; ISSN 1066-4068
* Buddy "The original Texas music magazine;" "Music magazine of Dallas." Named after Buddy Holley, Buddy was founded in 1976 in Houston by Stoney Burns (pseudonym of Brent Lasalle Stein; 1942–2011). ISSN 0192-9097; OCLC 52985380
* Southwest Blues, Bluestronomical Publishing Inc. (Dallas), founded in 1997; OCLC 45631095
* Starwind (1974–1978), Columbus, Ohio: Starwind Press; OCLC 60692283Editors: Warren DiLeo (né Warren Anthony DiLeo; 1941–1992) – Autumn 1974–Spring 1976Elbert Lindsey, Jr. – Fall 1976–
* Crazy Music: "the journal of the Australian Blues Society;" ISSN 0313-7015
* Contemporary Keyboard; ISSN 0361-5820

### Record labels

* Lucky Seven Records is a U.S. label founded in 1992 by Terry Manning and was initially distributed by Rounder Records, then of Cambridge, Massachusetts; in 2013 the label partnered with Blake Morgan and ECR Music Group
* Wolf Records International is a blues label based in Vienna, Austria. The label was an outgrowth of the Hot Club de Vienne (a blues fan club), founded in 1974 by 20 Austrians. Four of its members (two of which remain, Dr. Herbert Pessiak and Hannes Folterbauer) started the label in 1982. The label was formed with two objectives (1) re-release original country and blues recordings of the 1930s and 1940s, as compiled by Johnny Parth (de), focusing on Chicago blues styles and (2) produce new recordings
* Fedora Records was founded in the late 1990s in New York City by Joe Fields; it is a blues label that operates with its sister jazz labels, HighNote and Savant
* TKO Magnum Music Limited was a British label, based in High Wycombe; It was founded as Synergie Logistics Limited and TKO Magnum Music Limited in 1980 by Charles Nigel Molden, PhD (born 1948); Molden formerly had been a label manager and general manager for WEA and its successor, Warner Bros. Records; his wife, Hilary Julia Molden (née Hilary Julia Lichfield; born 1950), was the corporate, secretary; they've been married since 1971
* Blue Moon, along with Magnum Force, Thunderbolt, Sundown and Meteor, were labels of TKO Magnum Music
* Continental Blue Heaven (distributed by Harmonia Mundi)
* TopCat Records, LLC, was founded around 1993 in Dallas by Richard Franklin Chalk (born 1961)
* Mayhem Records is a defunct label that was founded around 2006 in Dallas by Izanama Shunto Sullivan, Sr. (born 1976)