Wendel Werner- Interview

Wendel Werner is an accomplished composer and choral arranger that graduated with a Masters in Music from the University of Tennessee. He has toured extensively, and has been in several bands. He’s performed frequently in the Knoxville Museum of Art’s “Alive after 5” series, and is currently part of the band Wendel Werner and The Strange Relationship. He also plays weekly online concerts, and gigs all over the area.

Wendel meets me at the door of St. Paul UMC in Fountain City, an inclusive church where he recently started the position of music director. Dressed in a black suit and red tie for the photography session we have scheduled during this interview, he leads me to the front of the sanctuary where a grand piano sits. We shoot a few photos while he tinkers on the piano, and chat a little. In addition to being a great friend, he’s also family, so we catch up a bit while relaxing into the shoot. Once we are finished with the piano, I begin the interview while we shift locations throughout the building. His answer to the first question gives an immediate peek into the personality of Wendel Werner.

So, what is your most useless talent?

(Laughing) Excellent job out of the gate! I’ve never been asked that one before. I’m trying to decide if I should give you a smart ass answer or not. Um…organization. Because organization, sometimes, is useless depending on who it’s being used on, right? So…what’s the point?

What first got you into music?

My dad had albums all around the house, so we were always listening to music growing up. And we thought that was normal. So, if my mother, who was a nurse, if she had a shift that was in the evenings, that meant that dad was with the kids. And dad would occupy the kids by putting them in front of the stereo and say “tonight we are listening to Miles Davis” or “tonight we are listening to the Beatles” or “tonight we are listening to Beethoven” or “tonight we are listening to Sammy Davis, Jr.” and “this is how we take the album out of the sleeve and you do not put your fingerprints on them, and you put it on like this.” Or “if you are talking to someone about a jazz album you have to say who all the players are on a song. You can’t just say this is Miles Davis. You have to say this is Miles Davis with John Coltrane playing sax, and this person played bass. You have to say all these things when it’s jazz…or if it’s an orchestra, you have to say who the conductor is. We learned all that growing up, and like I said, we thought that was normal. So when, as children, we are talking to adults about Glen Miller and Frank Sinatra and Eddie Arnold, and they look at us and ask “how do you kids know these things?” and we are going “wait…your family doesn’t talk about this?!Because we all know who Bill Haley and His Comets are, how come you don’t know who Bill Haley and His Comets are?”

So you weren’t spending your Saturdays watching Sesame Street as much as…

Oh, no we did that! Sesame Street, all the cartoons on Saturday mornings, and absorbed it like sponges. Then it was exponentially worse once we started learning to play because it was all these things that we were hearing on recordings and cartoons and on television shows, and going “wait! I can play the Wild Wild West theme on the piano! Cool! Then what else can I play?” You know? That just went on and on and on. Then if one brother learned something, then it was “Hey! How’d you know that?”…One thing would open up another. My parents didn’t want to force anyone, so they bought a piano and put it in the house. They put some books about how to play up on it, just to see who would gravitate to it, and I was first. But eventually, all four of us were taking classes. So buying the piano opened up another world, but getting involved in music at school also opened up another world. Getting involved in music at school with teachers that knew how to open us up.

Have you always been a musician?

Yes!

How many siblings do you have?

Three. I have two brothers. They are twins and they were born on my second birthday.

Oh, so three birthdays on the same day in your family?

That is correct. They both make their living as musicians. Well that’s not true, because one just retired. My sister currently is an Associate Dean of Fine Arts and a published author.

What was your first paid gig?

A wedding.

Did you love it or hate it?

I thought it was pressure. Which that wasn’t a bad thing, I just knew that I had to get it right because it was a wedding. I was in high school and had never done anything like that before…and I remember thinking I’ve got to get this thing right because I can’t be ruining someone’s wedding. And that has not changed. One of my brothers said this once “You mess up someone’s wedding and they remember that for the rest of their lives. You do everything right, and they won’t remember it at all.”

I know you taught for a while…

Well, I have always taught music. So I don’t think I ever thought anything different. To some extent, you are always teaching. Doesn’t matter if you are in a classroom or not. If I’m playing with and rehearsing with other musicians, then we are always learning from each other. If I’m directing a choir, then
I’m teaching.

How would you describe the music that you typically play and create?

A mixture of everything. It’s rare that I come up with something that isn’t influenced by several different genres of music. If someone was actually able to talk me into it, I could go through a piece of music and say these two words right there came from this piece of music. And the end of this phrase, the reason I wrote these lines like this is because of something that this person does. These chords right here, is the kind of thing Paul Simon would do, but I didn’t do exactly what Paul Simon has done. Or I would start off with something Paul Simon would do, but end up with something like what I would hear Prince do. Everything that I have written or arranged can easily be dissected to that extent.

What was the first album you bought with your own money?

I think that would be the first Elton John Greatest Hits album, because I think until then my parents bought the albums. It was when I realized I could buy albums with my allowance, so I was like “Well that’s a whole different deal now.”

What was the last album you bought? Do you still buy albums?

Oh yeah yeah, I’m still one of those. Because there’s information that I want, that is not on Spotify. So if I want to know who that piano player is or who wrote that particular tune, I have to look it up. The last album I bought was by Little Big Town. That always surprises people. But when their last album came out they were on Jimmy Fallon. And I was very intrigued by the song that they did, because it didn’t sound anything like a country song. I had already changed my outlook on them. The year that Glen Campbell died, Little Big Town was on the Grammys doing an a Capella version of Wichita Lineman, and it was fantastic.

How do you feel that the internet has impacted the music business? I know that a good deal of the last two years have been really social media focused for you.

Yeah, well that’s how the pandemic has affected the music industry. The internet has made it more accessible. That’s good and bad. There was a time when you had to work hard to be a working musician. Where you had to have really put your time in where your craft was concerned, and really study other music and other musicians, and had to impress a lot of people in order to be recognized on a national level. None of that is necessary now. The only thing that is necessary now is a computer. Now that means that there are a lot of people out there that get to be recognized, and that means that everyone thinks they can do it.

How did Wendel Werner At Home evolve?

From necessity? It was Betsy’s [member of The Strange Relationship] idea. We had a zoom during the beginning of Covid, with all of the singers and she said“ Wendel, you know what you ought to do, because now would be the time because no one else is doing it. Do these things online because everyone needs something to watch and you could be that person.” Huh. Alright. Let’s give it a shot! It was supposed to be just the one thing. Then after the one thing we said, ok we’ll just finish out the month. Then it became this every Thursday thing. And uh, it turned out better than we expected. It was my only job for quite along time [during the pandemic] and made me completely rethink performing.
Everything about it .I used to think that a physical audience was necessary. Performing for people you don’t see is a whole different genre. People you don’t see. People you don’t hear. Realizing who your competition is. If I am playing a club, I know that people are going to be talking, there will be breaking glass, I know someone’s phone will go off. There is a big difference in how we have to perform if we are performing in the Loudon Theater or if we are performing in the Old City. Because part of the competition is outside in the Old City…I have to program accordingly. My competition online is everything! I had never thought about that. Because I’m in your house. If you decide you want to get something to drink, then I’m history. Chances are that you may come back and be done with me. So we started thinking, we’ve gotta come up with a lot of things going on when you are watching these concerts, so we can keep you there…I’m in your home. How do you combat that? By paying close attention to comments. Someone says “hey we really like that” then you are getting it all the time. “We really like kazoos” well, then I’m getting on Amazon and I’m buying all the kazoos you’ve got…easily 80% of Wendel Werner at home was based on the reactions of people that were watching. I’m not that clever. I’m lucky that I married a clever person. I ask if it is possible to do something and she says give me a second, and then says we can make it happen. She can deal with whatever dumb ass thing I have to say.

Who would you most like to collaborate with?

I think I would just be interested in seeing how some people work. Like Sting, or Stevie Wonder or Paul Simon. Because I understand that Paul treats it like a job…working from like 8 to 5. So is there a lunch break Paul? How does that work?

Who are you inspired by?

Elton John made me realize that a person can make a living playing the piano. Billy Joel made me realize it could be me. Stevie Wonder is just…up there. That guy is just perched up there with God.

What is your next performance?

It would be Wendel Destroys Christmas. December 17th at St. Paul UMC in Fountain City at 7:00. This congregation has no idea what’s about to hit them. They’ll be like, “you are destroying Christmas? What do you mean?” No. You will not hear any Christmas songs in a traditional manner. All will be done differently.