Eric von Schmidt, an influential figure on the Boston-Cambridge, Mass. and east coast folk scene during the 1960s, died peacefully in his sleep on Feb. 1 at age 75. The folk-blues guitarist and singer-songwriter had struggled to regain his health after suffering a stroke last August.

Eric von Schmidt’s interpretations of traditional music influenced others like Bob Dylan (who recorded Von Schmidt’s original composition “Joshua Gone Barbados” with The Band) and Tom Rush. He and Rush collaborated on a popular rendition of “Wasn’t That a Mighty Storm?,” a traditional song about a devastating hurricane that destroyed Galveston, Texas in 1900. A recipient of an ASCAP Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000, he released his debut album, The Folk Blues of Eric von Schmidt, in 1963, while his last release was 2002’s Living on the Trail.

A visual artist, as well as a performing one, von Schmidt was a painter, muralist and a prolific illustrator whose work graced the album covers of such recording artists as Joan Baez, Odetta, John Renbourn and Chris Smither. Until six months prior to his death, von Schmidt was working on a series of paintings called “Giants of the Blues.” He and folksinger-record producer Jim Rooney co-wrote Baby ,Let Me Follow You Down (Anchor Press, 1979; reissued by the University of Massachusetts, 1994), a book exploring the Boston and Cambridge area music scene during the 1960s folk revival.