By Chad Neal
A musician that has kept the crowd at the Gin Mill for over 40 years…..
If you don’t know who Joe Wagner is I can assume you’ve only just started coming to Ellicottville. Every Wednesday night he has played his guitar, harmonica and sang at the Gin Mill accompanied many times by others and complimenting the popular restaurant’s “Wing Night”. His many years of playing are coming to an end on the weekly tip, as he wants to enjoy more time with his wife Jeannene who is retiring herself. Joe Wagner’s legacy will be hard to replace and he’s not completely finished with music or the Gin Mill, but the weekly Wings, Wagner on Wednesday shows will be different after his last show on August 23rd. The Villager caught up with Joe and his wife and learned more about his talent and history.
or the Gin Mill, but the weekly Wings, Wagner on Wednesday shows will be different
after his last show on August 23rd.
Photo/Jay Karassik
The Villager (V): When did you start at the Gin Mill every Wednesday night?
Joe Wagner (JW): It was the year I was thirty years old….1983.
V: How did you get that gig?
JW: My friend Tarry Klahn said, “You should go down to Ellicottville and look around. They are doing a lot of music down there.”
I walked into the Gin Mill and the bartender, Bill Howard took my information and passed it along to Jim and Janet Tekavec who called me. The first night I was supposed to play at the Gin Mill I had a sore throat, so I asked my friend Rick Niles to play with me. Rick played with me for a few years. After this I played solo for many years until John Winston came in one night on his way back from out west to visit his sick mother. His cousin, who was with John asked me if he could bring in his guitar and play with me. We played for about 15 years after that night as Wagner and Winston.
Joe is on his third set of owners at the Gin Mill. Tekevecs sold the business to Ed and Jean Calarmo and then Ed and Marybeth Ricks.
V: When did you start playing music in public?
JW: In high school I did a lot of performing with a folk group. At 17 years old, friends of mine and I put together a band to play for a friend’s wedding. From that point on we played weddings. The group “Stetson” was born. My first paying job was when Jack Yellen (who wrote Tiptoe Through the Tulips and many other famous songs), hired me to play background music on a recording that he and Ron Myers were writing for a play that was opening in Toronto. I was 15 or 16 years old. I got a check for $35.
V: What bands have you played with?
JW: I’ve sat in with many other groups to play harmonica, guitar or bass. Any chance I have, I will get up and play.
V: Who were some of your guests playing at the Gin Mill?
JW: Bill Shaffer, Brad Felton, Rick Niles, Bob Mulbauer, Joey D. (On the spoons), Jared Newman, John Winston, John Tomerlin, Jimmy Copeland, Stewart Shapiro, Gary Boldt, Gary London, Marty Peters, John Hoy and Brian Rick.
V: What’s your favorite song to play now as compared to some in the past?
JW: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (most requested) along with Brown Eyed Girl and Amy. I like to play songs by John Prine, Tom Petty and the Eagles.
V: How would you like to be remembered as the legacy you’ve become?
JW: I want to be remembered as the musician who wanted to keep the crowd. I played long sets, tried to honor people’s requests and allowed other musicians to come on stage and sing or play with me. Music has the power to connect us all.
Asked if he wanted to share anything else he replied that his “biggest musical inspiration was his grandmother Mable Kestner who played piano.” He played with her until she was 92 years old at nursing homes and church functions. Joe recorded a CD with his grandmother before she passed at the age of 96 years old. Joe’s whole family was musically talented. When he was 8 years old the first song he played on the guitar was “Home on the Range”.
Joe is not completely retiring from music he added, he will still play on occasion, at the Gin Mill on some weekends and that he is looking forward to traveling with his newly retired wife. “There have been times when I didn’t feel like going to work, but every time I came home after a gig, I was happy I went. I knew people were there to see me and I didn’t want to let them down. I’ve driven through a lot of bad weather and gone to work when I was sick or hurt, just so I didn’t let anyone down. The show must go on!”
Wednesday nights won’t be the same in Ellicottville and at the Gin Mill as Wagner steps away from the weekly performance, but The Villager heard through good sources that another great musician will follow in Wagner’s guitar strums on those mid-week evenings. He has played with Wagner and is behind the pine there quite a bit as well, the talented Brian Rick will give it a fly.