Johnny Schizoid Rocks the Hills, With the Sound of Music

Tucked away in the Little Rockies in the once-booming town of Zortman, Montana, is an artist that is full of "hopes, dreams and aspirations" and sharing his love for music with others.

John Steinhardt, aka "Schizoid Johnny" is hitting the highways and by-ways promoting his latest CD that was three years in the making. A self-taught musician, Johnny has been entertaining others since he was 14 years old. His tastes and interests have been a combination of blues, hip-hop rock and some classic country. He also adds songs of his favorite genre ...christian.

His take and belief on the music world was stated as "the purpose of music as a whole, according to Beethoven is a higher philosophy; we aim to a higher understanding of what we are listening to. What we are digesting is what we are presenting to the public. If we give them the option to think and to speculate, that would help give us something to grow together with."

Schizoid has spent the last three years writing, culminating, rehearsing, and finally producing his latest CD, "Whole Lotta Luck." The song by the same title is one of his favorites, as are "It's My Winnebeggo," and "He's Alive!"

The end result is the efforts of his writing the song to begin with. Also a poet, Schizoid, writes his own songs.

Daily, he journals in a book, jotting thoughts, memories and ideas. He also keeps a collection of ideas for songs in a bag, and when the bag is full, he sits down, peruses through the collection and sorts them according to the topic and theme. From that point, those ideas formulate into what are the makings, the beginnings, of a new creation. Schizoid is able to codify, arrange and compose the newest selection that will be burnt onto a CD. Once he begins to write a song, he said he can "hammer it out in ten minutes."

Schizoid works with various outlets in order to accomplish his mission. He works with a personal manager in Hollywood, a radio promoter in Nashville, and an individual in New Jersey, who does all the pressing and mastering on the works. This last CD he opted to do the pressing himself to save money, as "the price, as with everything else in the world, is skyrocketing." He also authors the lyric insert that accompanies each CD, providing the words to each song to allow the listener to sing along.

Schizoid spends time during the school year in Dodson School, attempting to bring back the music program.

And what are his plans for the future? "I am going to do a show at the 4th of July Celebration in Zortman, and I'll be at the Mint Bar in Malta on July 20th." He's been playing in Billings and Wilsall, as well.

His take on where he is guided and directed? "I'm 69 years old. How many (songs) do I have in me? I don't know, I am just enjoying life right now. I went fishing and caught a couple nice trout, and I am going elk hunting this fall."

Take a jaunt to Zortman on the 4th of July to hear him perform. Or...stop down at the Mint on July 20th to hear a live performance of Schizoid Johnny as he fills the night air with classical, country and rock-n-roll...down on the main street...where the sidewalk ends and the west begins.