Trending
A photo of Van Wagner on his website shows the musician and educator with a face streaked with coal dust and wearing a yellow miner's hat while holding an acoustic hollow-body guitar. The image gives a good indication of where Wagner is coming from with his music.
"Working 500 feet underground in the Schuylkill county coal mine was one of the most significant parts of my life. It humbled me and made me feel forgotten and yet also reborn and accepted. I came out of those mines a different man. Every day I go into school to teach, I do it with a smile on my face – reminded how lucky I am." Lucky indeed, because the quartet of men who worked in his group in the coal mine, he is the only one left alive.
Wagner just released "Sing Out" for download and on CD. The album's 17 songs are a return to folk, which is what he is best known for. The title track, "Sing Out," is named after a song about Woody Guthrie and others standing up for what they believed in.
"I've had too many friends killed by the mines. In addition, climate change is very real. Our fossil fuels usage is causing very real consequences on God's creation and our fellow human beings. We can keep denying this but the day will come when we will meet God and have to answer for our lifestyle choices," says Wagner.
Wagner, whose day job is as an environmental science teacher at Danville High School, built his music career branch by branch. Known for his modern day Pennsylvania folk songs, the musician took a sharp left turn last year when he dropped a rap and hip hop inspired album titled "Rap is Folk." Those songs demonstrate how his musical roots stretch out into directions beyond the fertile ground of acoustic folk and blues.
"Folk, bluegrass, blues and rap are music created on front porches and around campfires. I wanted to approach a rap album as a folk singer. My students at Lewisburg High School dared me to do it. I'm glad they did because I think it helped me bridge some musical gaps that turned out to be rather small. Rap music is folk music," says Wagner.
The Montour Ridge resident is a prolific musician.
"This will be my 32nd album. I have tried to release at least one, and sometimes two albums per year since 1997," he says.
No matter the past, Wagner has not soured on the future generation's potential. "They are awesome. America is in great hands. Young people today are more loving and accepting of diversity than ever before. The number one thing I can teach them is that they are loved. I have full confidence they will take care of the rest," says the teacher.
As his students sow the seeds for future years, Van will continue to pick and strum about the fuel for his creative soul.
"I love Pennsylvania and I love history. Even if I write a 100 songs a year, I will never write all the stories from Pennsylvania's past into song. There is so much history to be celebrated."
vanwagnermusic.com