Minnesota Music

Local musician Charley Wagner stops by KAXE ahead of Northern MN book tour

KAXE | By Malachy Koons

Published January 15, 2026 at 7:46 AM CST

A man playing acoustic guitar and harmonica in a radio studio. — Longville musician Charley Wagner at KAXE in Grand Rapids on Jan. 5, 2026.

The Longville artist's Finding Home Winter Tour will go across Northern Minnesota throughout January 2026.

GRAND RAPIDS — After years of "living to learn," Charley Wagner is ready to "learn to live."

It's a life philosophy that's at least partially responsible for the Longville musician's deep commitment to playing music and making art after spending more than 25 years as a hardworking arborist.

"I've traveled the world and competed in that and been very physical with that," Wagner said, joining Headwaters on KAXE on Jan. 5. "And so [in] this second part, I've really made more commitment and ... given the creative nature, my creative side, more purpose and more of a front row seat than being in the background."

His creativity stretches well beyond the music he's most known for, both as a solo performer and leading the band Forge North. When it came time to release his third album, Finding Home, in 2025, Wagner also released a companion booklet complete with handwritten lyrics, a painting for each song, descriptions of the guitars heard on the album and the luthiers who made them.

An open book showing handwritten cursive poetry on the left and a painting of a winter and summer split scene. — A page from Charley Wagner's "Finding Home" book, published in 2025.

The back of a dark brown acoustic guitar. The grain of the wood resembles an owl. — Charley Wagner holds his Hooter One guitar Jan. 5, 2026, at KAXE in Grand Rapids.

The booklet was an attempt to give Finding Home a little extra life in an era when music streaming and short attention spans have radically changed the way albums are received. His first two CDs didn't make the impression he had hoped. Wagner joked that CDs "make good coasters," "if you hang them in your garden they scare the birds away," and they are "more of a glorified business card."

He included the handwritten cursive lyrics to show the early stage of his creative process. In early 2025, he got out his high school painting supplies for a cold night activity and painted whatever came to mind as he listened to the songs. The resulting artwork was a natural fit for the project.

After a friend brought him to meet luthier Lloyd LaPlant, an idea began to form of shining a light on a niche profession that is obviously incredibly important to the musical world.

The Finding Home booklet includes information on all the guitars used on the record and on the people who made them. In addition to the legendary LaPlant in Grand Rapids, Wagner spotlights Danny Yochum in Longville and the late Grant Goltz of Hackensack.

The guitar Wagner brought to the studio is called Hooter One, named for a distinctive woodgrain pattern on the back, made with wood from Grant Goltz and help from John Sumption.

Listen above to hear the full interview and the two songs Wagner played live in the studio with Hooter One: "Minnesota Nice" from Finding Home and the debut of a new love song called "Dawn Marie."

Beginning in Grand Rapids on Friday Jan. 16, Wagner will be playing music and talking about the book around Northern Minnesota.

"I'm trying to promote this book and promote the idea of people being creative."