Photo provided by Minnesota Music Hall of Fame
New Ulm native, trumpeter, band leader and arranger Virgil E. C. “Swede” Wagner will be inducted into the 2026 Minnesota Music Hall of Fame at Turner Hall, April 10.
New Ulm native, trumpeter, band leader and arranger Virgil E. C. “Swede” Wagner will be inducted into the 2026 Minnesota Music Hall of Fame at Turner Hall, April 10.
NEW ULM — Seven new inductees will be added to the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame at Turner Hall Friday, April 10.
The banquet that starts at 5 p.m. will include New Ulm native Virgil E. C. “Swede” Wagner, the Chatfield Brass Band & Library, Cathy Erickson, “Cornbread” Harris, Rick Keane, Chan Poling, and the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale.
Known for his elite arranging skills of sometimes-complicated and involved instrumentation of top-notch, old-time band music, Wagner is the brother of 1992 MMHF inductee “Babe” Wagner.
Swede ran Babe’s band, known as the Swede Wagner Band into the 1950s after Babe passed away in 1949. Prior to that, the group was called the Babe Wagner Band Among his best-known music was making a recording of “Hot Jazz” with his brother Babe in the mid-40s.
His great nephew, David McClellan of Elk River talked about Babe.
“Stories I heard as a kid included when the silent movies came to town, Babe and Swede and my grandma (Oradell Wagner Schneider) would sit in the band pit and watch the film and compose the film soundtrack on the fly, having never seen the film,” David McClellan said. “I think that was pretty incredible for teenagers at that point. Swede was always happy to see my cousin Eric (Whitman) and I and show us what he was working on. There were lots of old musical instruments and old tube-type amps around. Swede would take turn picking them up and playing them, except the trumpet. He couldn’t play that because he had cancer in his mouth.”
McClellan said he and Eric went to Swede’s house in New Ulm for one of his last birthdays and played “Happy Birthday” for him on a coronet and trumpet.
“His face just lit up. It was like magic. He made his living playing trumpet for a long time,” said McClellan. “He got out his trumpet and tried to play it with us. His heart was in it, but he couldn’t play it like he wanted to anymore. As a kid, it was a cool moment to be a part of it, but it was crushing to see a guy who spent his life playing an instrument who couldn’t do it like he wanted to anymore.”
The Wagner bands played in many places in the Midwest.
Other groups to join the MMHOF April 10 include “Cornbread” Harris, the Chatfield Brass Band & Library, Cathy Erickson, Rick Keane, Chan Poling and the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale.
Harris, born James Samuel Harris Jr. on April 23, 1927 in Chicago, is a blues singer, pianist, and composer in the Twin Cities. He is recognized as a Minnesota rock ‘n’ roll pioneer and the father of record producer and 2016 MMHF inductee Jimmy Jam (James Harris III).
Harris played piano while serving in World War II and has been active in music since 1955. He is recognized as a key figure in Minneapolis Sound development.
Trumpeter Rick Keane of Pine Island played his first paying dance job at age 14 and continued with local bands through high school. He earned his way through college with his horn. He’s interested in any kind of music including concert, circus, dance and jazz bands.
Cathy Erickson is an old-time accordionist and bandleader who hosts three radio programs in Thief River Falls and has earned a statewide award for her volunteer efforts on the air. Her band has a mix of accordion, vocals, sax and drums.
Evanston, Ill. Based Chandler “Chan” Poling is a Twin Cities-based singer, pianist and composer best known as the leader of the Minneapolis punk/New Wave band, The Suburbs, which he co-founded in 1977. In 2005, he formed The New Standards, a jazz trio that interprets a variety of songs.
Poling has also composed for musical theater. His notable works include the musical “Glensheen” and score for the documentary “Iron Range: A People’s History,” which won an Emmy.
The Twin Cities Catholic Chorale includes a choir of more than 60 singers and organ accompaniment. They regularly perform at The Church of Saint Agnes in St. Paul.
The Chatfield Brass Band is an active community band with brass, woodwind and percussion musicians from southeast Minnesota.
The Chatfield Music Lending Library is the only library of its kind in the world with a collection of more than 50,000 pieces of instrumental music that lends music to bands and musicians around the world.
Free admission is available to the museum showcase 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 11 at the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame Museum.
Visit https://mnmusichalloffame.org/membership/ for more information including induction banquet tickets.