Kurt Wagner (musician) explained

Kurt Wagner
Background:	solo_singer
Birth Date:	5 October 1959^[1]
Genre:	Alternative country
Occupation:	Singer, songwriter, carpenter
Associated Acts:	Lambchop, Kort, HeCTA

Kurt Wagner (born 1959)^[2] is an American musician, and the singer and songwriter of the Nashville-based alternative country band Lambchop. In 2015 he launched an electronic music project named HeCTA.^[3]

Early life and education

Wagner was born in the South — Nashville, Tennessee — to Northerner parents.^[4] As a youth, he wore his hair very long, which set him further as an outcast among his peers.

He attended art school in Memphis, Tennessee.^[5]

Career

Wagner worked as a carpenter,^[5] laying wooden floors both before the success of Lambchop in the 1990s and afterwards.

Personal life

He is married to Mary Mancini who was elected Chair of the Tennessee Democratic Party on January 10, 2015 as the second woman to be elected to that position.^[6] Previously she ran, unsuccessfully, in the Democratic primary against Jeff Yarbro for Senate District 21, which includes much of West Nashville in 2014. "I tell everybody, if you want to run for office some day and have an incredible fundraising event, marry a musician about 15-20 years before you declare your candidacy," Mancini said in a press release.^[7]

Wagner was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the 2000s and received treatment.

Discography

Albums

• Something Missing, A Conversation Between The Altered Statesman And Kurt Wagner (self-released 2012) - vinyl and digital distribution
• Kurt (self-released 2007) - tour only CD from European solo tour

EPs

• Chester (Rykodisc 1999) - with Josh Rouse

Compilation albums

• Various artists, Songs for the Young at Heart (V2 2007) - contributed Inchworm
• Various artists, MAVIS presented by Ashley Beedle & Darren Morris (!K7 2010) - contributed Gangs of Rome

Other projects

• HeCTA, The Diet (Merge Records 2015)
• Kort, Invariable Heartache (City Slang 2010) with Cortney Tidwell

Guest appearances

• Morcheeba, Charango (Sire 2002) - What New York Couples Fight About
• The Band of Blacky Ranchette, Still Lookin' Good to Me (Thrill Jockey 2003)
• X-Press 2, Give It (Skint Records 2005)
• DJ Koze, Knock Knock (Pampa Records 2018) - Muddy Funster

Notes and References

1. 1313156845876305920. williamtylertn. Happy birthday to mentor and friend @lambchopisaband who told me prob twenty years ago 'if you play guitar and you'…. 5 October 2020.
2. News: The Independent. Their leader, Kurt Wagner, 45....It was in 1960, when Wagner was two, that he was taken by his liberal, Northern parents to Nashville, deep in the South. Kurt Wagner: The quiet American. Nick. Hasted. February 6, 2004. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20091126234437/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/kurt-wagner-the-quiet-american-568938.html. November 26, 2009. August 25, 2017.
3. Web site: Jeremy. Gordon. June 9, 2015. Lambchop's Kurt Wagner launches electronic music project HeCTA, shares "Til' Someone Gets Hurt". Pitchfork.com. August 25, 2017.
4. News: Kurt Wagner on Lambchop, Nashville – and being seen as a redneck . . Michael. Hann. February 9, 2012. August 25, 2017.
5. News: The Independent. Kurt Wagner: The quiet American. Nick. Hasted. February 6, 2004. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20091126234437/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/kurt-wagner-the-quiet-american-568938.html. November 26, 2009. August 25, 2017.
6. Web site: Hale. Steven. Mary Mancini elected TNDP Chair. Nashville Scene. City Press LLC. 9 February 2015. 15 January 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150115060221/http://www.nashvillescene.com/pitw/archives/2015/01/10/mary-mancini-elected-tndp-chair. dead.
7. Web site: Mary. Mancini. Nixon for Mancini. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140812184755/http://www.maryforsenate.com/2014/06/24/nixon-for-mancini/ . maryforsenate.com. Mary Mancini for State Senate. August 12, 2014. August 25, 2017.