Trent Wagler
Musician · Harrisonburg, Virginia
Best known for
Guitar
Trent Wagler is the lead singer, guitarist, and banjo player of the Steel Wheels, the Blue Ridge Americana band he co-founded in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and the writer of most of its songs.
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- Formed the first incarnation of the band with Jay Lapp in 2004, while both were students at Eastern Mennonite University; bassist Brian Dickel and fiddler Eric Brubaker joined soon after.
- Of Mennonite heritage; his Amish grandfather kept a string band quietly, and it was from him that Wagler learned the old tune “Red Wing” on visits to Bean Blossom, Indiana.
- Wrote entirely new lyrics to that tune and slowed it into a lament; the result became the title track of the band’s 2010 album Red Wing.
- With the band, hosts the Red Wing Roots Music Festival in Virginia.
