Tim Wechgelaear will perform free concert for public at college

QUEENSBURY, New York (Nov. 1, 2022) — Tim Wechgelaer didn’t learn to play guitar until he was 19 years old, but he hasn’t stopped since.

“It has been a wild ride,” the Saratoga-based musician said, describing travels throughout Europe, the Caribbean and the United States to perform.

Wechgelaer will perform at 12:30 p.m. Nov. 9 in SUNY Adirondack's Visual Arts Gallery, Dearlove Hall, as part of the college’s Pamela Firth Music at Midday Series.

The self-described roots musician plays fiddle and guitar, Americana and Irish music, bluegrass, folk and classic rock, original music and, increasingly, the songs of Chris Stapleton.

“He’s one of the best things that has happened to country music in a long time,” Wechgelaer said. “I think it’s OK to have a guy and a guitar, a singer who plays guitar, that sound is OK. I don’t think you necessarily have to do anything else electronically to enhance that.”

That love of guitar and stripped-down sound is rooted deep in Wechgelaer, who first fell in love with music watching an early iteration of the Stony Creek Band playing at the Stony Creek Inn, when his family summered in the northern Warren County town.

“It was just a hangout, with people stopping in and jamming and I was just kind of mesmerized by it,” he said.

After learning guitar, teaching himself fiddle and mandolin, Wechgelaer wasn’t sure what he wanted to do as a career. 

“I knew I really liked music,” he said. “I hadn’t been to college, went rent to work out of high school in construction and, after a bit, I thought, ‘I should probably go to college; this work is tough.’”

He enrolled at SUNY Adirondack, where he spent a year studying science and — of course — taking music classes. “I got so into music at that time in my life, all I wanted to do was play. I wasn’t accomplished enough, I didn’t know if I could ever go professionally in a way that I could sustain myself,” he said.

He joined the fire department in White Plains. “The schedule was such, I could play a lot of gigs, as many as my professional music friends,” he said.

Since retiring from the fire department, Wechgelaer has continued to play regularly. 

“I started late, but I found something I love and I’m still doing it,” he marveled.

The Pamela Firth Music at Midday concert is free and open to the public.