Konrad Wert is a family man, so much so that there’s a nod to his father and grandfather in the name of his act,. Onstage, the Kerrville-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is a one-man wonder. But his family helped shape his style of folk and bluegrass music and continues to provide the foundation for his work in the music industry.
That’s also a reason he’s stood with one foot on the ground in teaching and the other on music’s odd terrain. Possessed by Paul James has earned some accolades since Wert started the act in 2005. It’s been a Billboard charting act and a critical darling in outlets like NPR, as well as an Independent Music Award winner. Wert’s story’s been told on film, in a documentary titled“They supported one another,” he said of his two pursuits. “Longevity in teaching now is not a norm.
It’s blossomed into a lot more – several hailed, charting albums and a live set that’s so good it was once named to a best concerts list, right alongside Beyoncé, Stevie Wonder and Neil Young. The live set is how Possessed by Paul James came into this writer’s music sphere. At Chicago’s MoonRunner’s Music Festival, Wert’s solo show astounded onlookers.
“We were kind of restricted in what we could have in the family, like to listen to secular music,” he said of his upbringing in the Mennonite church. “So I didn’t get exposed to it ‘til more like a high school kid and my buddies would listen to different stuff and I’d get exposed to different stuff. But then, I remember feeling a different element of passion that was beyond just a spiritual sense, where it was kind of maybe created.
Family is the central theme of this interview and Wert’s life. It’s right in his band’s name, Possessed by Paul James – a nod to his grandfather Paul and his father Melvin James and his place in the Wert line as a father and husband. But he owes a lot of his musical interest to his mother.
Source: Entertainment Trends (entertainmenttrends.net)
Konrad Wert The Tillers Mcgonigels Mucky Duck Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe Folk Bluegrass
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