Pop Wagner Lights Up Family Hoedown at the Library

Jackson, WY- Teton County Library invites families with kids age 5 and older, to saddle up for toe-tapping entertainment by Pop Wagner - a singer, picker, fiddler and lasso twirler, who has charmed listeners across the nation and abroad.

A Family Hoedown with Pop Wagner begins at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 3 in the library's Ordway Auditorium. The evening entertainment is free and open to the public and sponsored by the Teton County Library Foundation. Western attire is encouraged, and delicious cowboy chow of chili, cornbread and cobbler will follow Wagner's show.

"It will be great to have Pop take Jackson kids back to the 'good ol' days' when cowboyin' was common and tall tales, rope tricks and fiddle tunes set the stage for an entertaining family evening," said Debbie Schlinger, Youth Programs Coordinator."He's a cowboy musician who has appeared often on the radio show Prairie Home Companion, performed in 44 states and many countries around the world."

With four decades of performing under his belt, Wagner easily combines Western entertainment for kids with education about American folk music and its many instruments ranging from fiddles to jaw harps. And, he does lariat tricks.

Bill Hinkley, of "Inside Bluegrass" magazine, extols the many qualities that make a Pop Wagner performance unique, writing: "When you hear that smoothly-rolling John Hurt-inspired guitar and that cowboy drawl, or dance to that rowdy old-time Cajun-blend hoedown fiddle and his often-hilarious calls, or marvel at the unlikely sight of a man standing on a horse's back twirling a lasso around his torso, then you're sharing in the spell that only Pop can cast."

Wagner has a dozen recordings to his credit, as well as two guitar instructional books and two videos. He has won broadcasting's George Peabody Award for his performances on A Prairie Home Companion. Read more about Wagner's life, work and performances at www.popwagner.com.

Wagner will also perform at the Alta Branch Library at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 4, as well as in community schools. For more information about the upcoming Family Hoedown in Jackson, call Youth Services at 733-2164 ext. 103. You can also visit online at www.TCLib.org/youth.

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