IRVING PARK — Like many teenagers after a breakup, Sami Lin Schwieger experienced many emotions and thoughts.
But Sami, a sophomore at Taft High School with a big voice and an ability to play a mean acoustic guitar, put those feelings onto paper and into songwriting. Those songs became her first CD, "Tracks From My Past," which recently was released.
"That person gave me a lot to write about," said the 15-year-old Edison Park resident, who broke up with the unnamed boy more than a year ago. "I always thought of writing songs, but I never had a reason to. When I went through that relationship, I had to put the words down."
Justin Breen says Sami Lin just might be the real deal:
The CD was published by Sami's parents, Scott and Lisa Schwieger, and created at ICON Pro Studios in Irving Park. Three hundred copies were made, and are selling for $10, while the six-track album also is available on Amazon, iTunes and Google Play.
Sami learned to play guitar when she was a fourth-grader at Oriole Park Elementary. Her music teacher at the time, Paul Gilvary, is the guitarist on "Tracks From My Past." Gilvary, a music instructor at Audubon Elementary who lives in North Center, said Sami is an extremely talented singer, musician and songwriter.
"When you have a relationship that goes bad — and we all do — and that was her first one, what you do is take that emotion you felt and exaggerate it within yourself as a tool to help yourself," Gilvary said. "I can't believe she figured that out so young — that if a relationship goes wrong, that's OK because you can get a lot of songs out of it."
Listen to a sample of Sami Lin's work here:
Sami is following in the musical and songwriting footsteps of her idol, Taylor Swift. She describes her music as similar to Swift's but noted, "I have my own style."
"It's a little country, but I wouldn't classify it as country," Sami said. "But it's like pop, too."
Sami said her previous boyfriend knows the songs are about him. When she told him, Sami said "he just kind of laughed."
Sami said she has a "big voice," which may be surprising considering she's only 5 feet, 1¾ inches — and she stressed the "three-quarters" part.
Sami has performed locally at Iron Horse Ale House, Kouks Vintage Cafe and Norwood Park Carnival. On Saturday, she played her tunes at Rock the Badges at the Copernicus Center.
Sami, who last month picked up an endorsement from Daisy Rock Guitars, also has been featured at a few businesses in Nashville, Tenn.
The Taft sophomore, who also is on the Eagles' junior varsity tennis team, never believed she'd have a CD released so quickly in her career.
"I thought I would just be playing covers and just be playing for fun," Sami said.
The CD took more than a year to make. Sami and her background performers rehearsed about three times a month, two to three hours per rehearsal.
"More than the CD actually coming to fruition, the thing I'm happiest about is I've discovered who my daughter really is," said Scott Schwieger, a Chicago Police lieutenant. "We really found out who Sami is, and she's amazing."
Said Lisa Schwieger: "It's beyond what we would have ever expected somebody of this age and a child of ours could accomplish. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication."
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