Songbirds

There can be joy in collaborating with someone you trust

Danny Schmidt and Carrie Elkin
Danny Schmidt and Carrie Elkin

Danny Schmidt and Carrie Elkin are both solo singer-songwriters. They also happen to be in a relationship, but don’t always have time together since they have separate projects. For now, however, the songbird couple has discovered a solution to this problem.

“We were touring so much, individually, that we never got the chance to see one another,” says Schmidt. “So we decided to try touring together in a song-swap format, adding harmonies to each other’s songs, and good-natured ribbing in between songs.”

In 2012 they released a two-song project called Together, where each riffs on a song written by the other. Elkin sings on Schmidt’s swelling folk Americana track “Company of Friends,” while Schmidt takes the lead on Elkin’s country-folk track “Swing from a Note.” Though each has performed on the other’s solo projects before, working jointly on a project was a unique situation for them.

“We had our reservations going into the process,” Schmidt admits. “[We were] nervous that there might be some control issues between us. But there was a lot of careful and thoughtful consideration of each other’s artistic perspectives, and a lot of communication. I feel like we grew more, personally, from this collaboration than we grew artistically.”

Elkin agrees that this experience was an encouraging one.

“This process made me realize how much joy there can be in collaborating with someone you trust,” she says. “I concur with Danny that, for the most part, we grew more personally, but I feel there was a bit of artistic growth along the way, too.”

Danny Schmidt and Carrie Elkin play 8 pm Monday, Jan. 20, at Cozmic; $12.