The Little Wretches

CLICK HERE TO VISIT YOUTUBE TO VIEW AND LISTEN TO THE PERFORMANCE

Audio of this performance will appear as a "bonus track" on the re-mastered reissue of LIVE AT THE MATTRESS FACTORY--SONGS FROM THE LAND OF UNIMARTS & PIT BULLS. When is the album coming out? 

(MAY YOU NEVER BE THE) CHILD OF A REALIST 

Words and Music by Robert Andrew Wagner 
May you never be the child of a realist. 
May you never learn to calculate the odds. 
May you never need apologize to your mother or your father 
for honoring the gifts…

Most of my shows are solo acoustic shows, but almost all of my recordings involve a band. You'd be stunned at the number of times I've approached listening-rooms and cafes for gigs, only to be told that they're afraid I'd be too loud. I thought the UNIMARTS album would be my springboard to performing at acoustic clubs around the world. 

I recorded the concert that became SONGS FROM THE LAND OF UNIMARTS, PITBULLS + KARAOKE MACHINES specifically for the purpose of having a product representative of my solo…

I wonder if I was the victim of click-bait. Maybe the guys accusing Van Morrison were actually WORKING FOR Van Morrison. 

Nah. 

Probably not. 

I look at and occasionally post on a Bob Dylan fan-site on Facebook. (I belong to Patti Smith, Phil Ochs, Nico, Johnny Thunders and a few other fan-pages, too.) I saw a post that included a link to a news-source that claimed Van Morrison was engaging in ultra right wing “dog-whistles” and using blatantly anti-Semitic tropes. 

(I had to look up “trope,” one of those…

Click Here to the DASH IT OUT conversation between VIK - TOR and Robert

VIK - TOR and I had quite a conversation for his DASH IT OUT podcast. I repped Pittsburgh, of course, talked some Hill District and August Wilson, some shoplifting and survival skills, some Jonathan Richman and Michelle Shocked, and marveled at how he and I, though superficially different, share the same mission, the same positive attitude, resilience and faithfulness. If you never listen to another of my interviews, I hope you’ll give…

A few years ago, I was in the coffee shop at the main branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, eavesdropping on a conversation between the barista and a tattooed hipster revolutionary as they discussed a book one of them had read about Pirate Democracy. There is something romantic about the thought of living outside of society, preying on merchant vessels loaded with some king's treasures, taking as your own as much as you can carry of the conquered ships's cargo.  

Imagine, these collegiate dandies…

Click here to see the BEACH SLOTH review.

" Little Wretches offers a poignant piece of beautiful balladry on the bombastic “All My Friends”. Giddy with energy they race through the track length with gleeful abandon. Instrumentally dense they incorporate so much into the mix..."

I dunno. My first poetry mentor at the University of Pittsburgh taught me that if you want to publish in small magazines, you should READ small magazines; It is your responsibility to support the community you hope to be a part of…

Click HERE to read the interview with Robert of The Little Wretches at Billboard World Music

Billboard, huh?

Isn't Billboard some kind of big deal in the entertainment business?

Whatever it is, I like what I said in this interview. Given that a lot of interviews involve questions answered previously, often and elsewhere, I try to refrain from lapsing into schtick and always try to say something I haven't said before or, at least, to say it differently.

This interview is pretty cool. Or maybe I just like…

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT BIZCATALYST 360's piece on one of our best songs.

BORN WITH A GIFT maybe the cornerstone of the entire LITTLE WRETCHES' catalogue. It means a lot to me, and a few people have let me know that it mean a lot to them, too. 

CLICK HERE to go to the episode of CONVO EX NIHILO featuring a conversation with Robert Andrew Wagner of The Little Wretches

CONVO EX NIHILO is a very cool podcast: 

“Robert Wagner is a musician from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His band The Little Wretches is a folk act with a punk rock spirit. Their 2020 album Undesirables and Anarchists gives soulful life to the stories of the songs' protagonists. They are the down-trodden and destitute, the forgotten wretches of society and Robert joins Billy via zoom to…

Click this link to go to THE ARTISTS CENTRAL

Honestly, this looks like the work of our publicist. Propaganda, as they say. Then again, propaganda usually blends a lot of truth with some crucial lies. I don't think this piece contains any falsehoods, but it does feel like a gratuitous piece of self-promotion. Oh, go ahead. Keep that flattery coming!