Robert Watson Schmertz (March 4, 1898 – June 7, 1975) was a Pittsburgh-based architect and folk musician whose music has been covered by Pete Seeger, Burl Ives, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Bill and Gloria Gaither, The Statler Brothers, The Cathedrals, Dailey & Vincent, the River City Brass Band, and Ernie Haase & Signature Sound.

In May 1917 Schmertz, dressed in "light flannel trousers, a girl's middy blouse and a small white hat," was arrested after he stood outside a theater and encouraged persons exiting the theater to join the navy as, according to Schmertz, a part of an initiation ritual to join a fraternity; he was charged with mocking the uniform but a magistrate later dismissed the charge.

[2] In 1930, the Common Brick Manufacturers' Association of America in Cleveland, Ohio, awarded Schmertz an honorable mention in a "houses already built" contest.

[7] Three years later, Schmertz served on a Pittsburgh-based American Institute of Architects executive committee that sought to identify western Pennsylvanian buildings constructed before 1860.

[2][4] By 1958, a writer for the Deadwood Pioneer-Times in Deadwood, South Dakota, wrote that Schmertz was "rapidly gaining national prominence as an interpreter of American musical and lyrical idiom" after Schmertz wrote a song, "Swing Away, Pearly Gates," for Edmund Karlsrud and the Concertmen, who performed it as a part of their 1957–1958 tour.

7, a musical "in the folk idiom, expanded by modern, sophisticated treatment" that debuted at the American Wind Symphony Orchestra.

[15] A reviewer for Billboard magazine called it a "fascinating package of songs" that "will appeal to folklorists, educational groups, and, of course, residents of Pittsburgh particularly".

[2][17] Schmertz's music has been covered by Pete Seeger, who called Schmertz a "very good songwriter",[18] Burl Ives, Tennessee Ernie Ford,[18] Bill and Gloria Gaither, The Statler Brothers, The Cathedrals, Dailey & Vincent, the River City Brass Band, and Ernie Haase & Signature Sound.