Art Paul, right, with one of his many musical collaborators, Danny Krill.
If you’ve ever walked up and down State Street, you’ve seen your fair share of buskers and street performers doling out small fragments of performance art in exchange for a ha’penny or two. The most renowned of these downtown figures would have to be Art Paul Schlosser. Born in Chicago and raised on Tiny Tim and Dr. Demento, Schlosser, who performs under the name Art Paul, has been playing on the street since the mid-1980s, rain or shine, with his guitar and kazoo — always wearing colorful clothing and offering up one of his many CDs.
“He is one hard-working artist, and one of the true threads that makes this city the interesting blanket that it is,” says Steve Chappell, a local Madison artist and collaborator.
Although the 58-year-old Art Paul has already released 47 CDs over the decades, this year he’s done something new. We Duet Right is a full-length album featuring collaborations with a number of musicians, many of whom have made their mark on the local and national music scenes. “This was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to do it,” says Art Paul. “My friend [Blunt from local band Cattleprod] told me ‘Hey Art! You know what you should do? You should do an album where you do a song with everybody!’”
After sitting on the idea for years — and knocking out other ideas like inspiring his own tribute or remix album — Art Paul began pitching the idea of a duet album to local musicians. “Every time I saw him playing on State Street or in front of the Willy Street Co-op, he’d ask me about it,” says Andrew Rohn of V05, who helped create the Beatles’ parody “I Wanna Hold Your Toe.” (Rohn is married to Catherine Capellaro, Isthmus’ arts & culture editor, who sings on the track; their son Julian plays guitar.) Rohn says he wanted to be a part of the project because Art Paul is “one-of-a-kind.” He also noted that Art Paul “was very persistent about getting us to sign on.”
Rohn wasn’t the only one eager to work with the street musician. “I think if I got everybody on here who said they wanted to be on here, I don’t think I’d have enough room for them on one album,” says Art Paul.
Art Paul has already won eight Madison Area Music Awards for his songs and albums since 2007. And he’s poised for more. Songs from We Duet Right are nominated, and the whole album is up for “Unique Album.” When asked how he interprets the word “unique,” Art Paul replies, “I think it means there’s no other category where it fits.”
Art Paul’s singular songwriting style yields material that is usually comedic in tone, often heading into parody, and always featuring his vigorous guitar strumming. His musical tastes delve into alt-rock, experimental and gospel, which he hopes to focus on more in the future. In fact, one of his dream duets would be with Amy Grant, the well-known country-gospel singer.
Biff Blumfumgagnge, a longtime player on the Madison scene in the Gomers, Steely Dane and myriad other projects, calls We Duet Right “a kick.” Blumfumgagnge, who has known Art Paul since the 1980s, calls the album “a weird, bizarre snapshot of Madison artists in 2018.”
Bucky Pope, guitarist for the ‘80s legends the Tar Babies and now frontman for Negative Example, collaborated on “I Will Come to the Wedding.” He’s a self-described fan of Art Paul, who has known him for decades. “Art can definitely show flashes of brilliance,” says Pope. “But he still can’t tune his guitar.”