Over this past weekend, I learned that old-time musician Christian Wig died on April 21. Born on Dec. 12, 1949, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, he became immersed in the folk music scene in Northeast Ohio during the 1970s. Throughout the next few decades, Wig would play in a number of folk and old-time bands, including the Blue Eagle String Band, North Fork Rounders, Boiled Buzzards, the Mustel House Muskrats (a reference to the Mustill Store in Akron) and others. Wig also released a series of solo albums.
Known more for his fiddling, Wig actually started on banjo. According to his website, he got a Bacon resonator banjo in 1969 and began learning from Pete Seeger's book. He later got an album by Art Rosenbaum, which inspired him to learn clawhammer style. However, he had trouble figuring it out until he met Stan Werbin, the future proprietor of Elderly Instruments. Wig wrote that Werbin was a friend of his cousin's at the University of Michigan, where Wig was visiting in 1971.
Back home, Wig tracked down renowned banjo builder Doug Unger, following a lead from a newspaper story. Wig visited Unger and learned more from his playing. While working at a bowling alley, Wig wrote that he continued learning the banjo, practicing the arrangements in John Burke's book, Old Time Fiddle Tunes for Banjo.
The next year, Wig met Dave Neff, a banjo player from Uniontown, Ohio, and soon he became a member of the Blue Eagle String Band, along with Dave and Diana Neff, Bob and Carolyn Riley, and fiddler Ed Courier. The band played local venues, including workshops at the Kent State Folk Festival, where Wig met Wil Bremer, who owned a music store and instrument repair shop in Spicertown, a neighborhood in Akron near the university.
Lo and behold, Wig got his wish. In 1976 he apprenticed with Scott Antes to build Appalachian lap dulcimers at his shop, Boulder Junction, in Uniontown, Ohio. Antes also ran a coffee house. One day, Antes said he was selling the business, and Wig decided to buy it. He partnered with Neff, who along with Antes was an original founder of the shop, and the two turned the business into a folk music center, selling and repairing instruments and hosting folk and traditional musicians at the coffee house, many of whom were also performers at the Kent State Folk Festival. Occasionally, Wig's shop would co-sponsor groups, such as the Highwoods String Band, along with the Kent Area Friends of Folk Music, headed by Kerry Blech.
As a banjo player, Wig wrote that he was often around fiddlers and took advantage of free lessons and pointers from the likes of Lisa Ornstein, Sue Truman, Mary Dushane and "whomever else would take the time." Another early influence was Columbus fiddler, Charlie Williams, who had once been Jeff Goehring's fiddle teacher.
Fiddle became Wig's primary instrument, and he played in a variety of bands through the end of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He was a regular at the Southern Appalachian fiddlers' conventions, such as Mount Airy and Clifftop. In 2003, he began recording with Mark Olitsky and Dave Rice for his first solo album, Gate to Go Through, which was my introduction to Wig's music. The album contains a number of tunes he learned from Melvin Wine.
Back home, Wig tracked down renowned banjo builder Doug Unger, following a lead from a newspaper story. Wig visited Unger and learned more from his playing. While working at a bowling alley, Wig wrote that he continued learning the banjo, practicing the arrangements in John Burke's book, Old Time Fiddle Tunes for Banjo.
The next year, Wig met Dave Neff, a banjo player from Uniontown, Ohio, and soon he became a member of the Blue Eagle String Band, along with Dave and Diana Neff, Bob and Carolyn Riley, and fiddler Ed Courier. The band played local venues, including workshops at the Kent State Folk Festival, where Wig met Wil Bremer, who owned a music store and instrument repair shop in Spicertown, a neighborhood in Akron near the university.
Wig wrote that he visited Bremer many times, played banjo tunes and sang Utah Phillips songs.
"We'd go to the Byrth Coffee House nearby and hear Alex Bevan, John Bassette and Jim Ballard, as well as a countless array of folk and traditional musicians," Wig wrote. "I remember wishing I had a place that would do it all, i.e., instrument repair and coffee house — a real folk music center."
As a banjo player, Wig wrote that he was often around fiddlers and took advantage of free lessons and pointers from the likes of Lisa Ornstein, Sue Truman, Mary Dushane and "whomever else would take the time." Another early influence was Columbus fiddler, Charlie Williams, who had once been Jeff Goehring's fiddle teacher.
Wig released four more albums over the next two decades as part of his "Fiddling on the Frontier" series: Lost Indian (c. 2006), Chadwell's Station (2008), Come Back Boys & Feed the Horses (c. 2011) and Constancy (c. 2016), the latter of which I reviewed for the April 2019 issue of The Old-Time Herald (Vol. 14, No. 11).
In addition to his music, Wig was also a historian, silversmith and French & Indian War enthusiast and reenactor. He was a contributor to a number of magazines on music and history. Based on his interest in the American frontier period, Wig wrote Annosanah: A Novel Based on the Life of Christopher Gist.
Living in Salineville, Columbiana County, Ohio, about 65 miles southeast of where I live in Akron, I had often thought of reaching out to Wig to see if I could sit and learn from him. Sadly, I missed my opportunity.
From what I can tell, Wig's music and books are now only available through his website www.chriswig.com. With his passing, I cannot confirm whether that is still the case. His music is well worth exploring. Although I didn't get a chance to meet him in person, I know his contributions to the old-time music community will be sorely missed.
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