Milwaukee Bluesman Jeff Schroedl Takes Charge of Blind Pig, America’s Top Blues Label

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Nine out of 10 musicians don’t have much of a head for business. Jeff Schroedl is that singular exception. For 22 years, Schroedl has co-led the Altered Five Blues Band, a Milwaukee group that toured Europe, reached No. 3 on Billboard’s Blues Chart with their 2021 album Holler If You Hear Me, and were all over Spotify and Sirius XM’s “Bluesville” with 2019’s Ten Thousand Watts. Schroedl is also executive vice president of product development at Hal Leonard, the Milwaukee-based titan of music publishing, and has added a new bullet point to his resume. He is now president of Blind Pig Records.

Blind Pig is one of America’s most respected blues and roots music record labels. Founded in 1977 in the basement of an Ann Arbor, Michigan blues club, Blind Pig has released albums by Muddy Waters, Magic Slim, Elvin Bishop, James Cotton, Deborah Coleman and many other estimable artists. The label’s repertoire expanded beyond blues to include soul, gospel and zydeco.

Schroedl’s relations with Blind Pig began when the label released Altered Five’s Charmed & Dangerous in 2017. By that time, Blind Pig had been acquired by The Orchard, a branch of Sony Music Entertainment. “I knew The Orchard wanted to keep Blind Pig going, but it was me who talked to them and floated the idea,” Schroedl says of the ownership transition. He also sought, and received, the blessings of Blind Pig’s founders, Jerry Del Giudice and Edward Chmelewski.

“I have a diverse background in the music business,” Schroedl adds. “I’ve dealt with labels and artists. I’ve had lots of interaction with management companies, PR firms, e-commerce, booking agencies and radio promoters.” In the ‘90s, he was editor of Guitar One magazine.

Fresh Start

In many ways, Schroedl’s new regime at Blind Pig is a fresh start for the esteemed label. He does not own the back catalog but has inherited Blind Pig’s social media and You Tube channels and email list as well as the familiar name and logo. Schroedl has signed two new acts, both from Louisiana, Jovin Webb and Sonny Gullage. They already have followings on Facebook and TikTok. “Artists are often their own influencers,” Schroedl says. He hopes to release three or four albums during his first year at the label’s helm on vinyl, CD and all digital formats.

“Blind Pig has a great reputation,” he continues. “I plan to do my best to continue that tradition of high-quality recordings—and high-quality business ethics,” he adds, commenting on the checkered history of blues musicians who were ripped off by record labels.

In some ways the audience for blues has shrunk since Schroedl moved to Milwaukee from Jefferson, Wisconsin in 1990; fewer bars book blues bands and the wages for local musicians haven’t kept up with inflation. On the other hand, new media has made it possible for local bands to find pockets of fandom across the world, gain exposure through streaming and organize tours more easily. “The business has evolved a great deal,” he says. “There are a lot of parts to it. But it still starts with great artistry and songs.”

As for the blues, that bedrock of American music, “it has to keep evolving and growing,” Schroedl continues. “I have deep respect for the history, but at the same time, it’s a living, breathing genre. We’re seeing a lot of blues-based artists bringing new things to the music and being successful. We intend to try and keep it moving forward. To reach new audiences, blues will have to keep developing.” 

Altered Five’s next album, Testifyin’, is due at the end of March on the Blind Pig label.