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Orange teen guitarist is 'old school'

Orange County student is making a name for himself in the soulful world of Delta blues

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Date published: 10/10/2008

By CATHY DYSON

Ethan Wiebe hears it all the time, that he looks older than 16.

When he takes a 1950s guitar in his hands and plays the Delta blues--an older style that goes back to the soulful roots of the music--it seems as if he has been around a lot longer than he has.

"I guess I do feel like an old man sometimes around all these kids," he said about his classmates at Orange County High School, where he's a junior.

Ethan doesn't own video games or any other electronic devices. He doesn't watch TV, except movies, and hates MySpace, but has a page because it's a good way to get his music out there.

He listens to CDs only when he has to, when he can't find the songs on any other medium. He prefers vinyl records because they're more raw--and more real--than any modern sound.

And as another indication of how he's thinking beyond his years, Ethan already has a stage name: Hunter Wolfe. It's his middle name and great-grandmother's maiden name combined.

He uses it because he doesn't want the children he may have one day to gain any advantages from the fame he hopes to find.

"I don't want my kids to have everything handed to them on a platter," said Ethan, who prefers to be called Hunter when he's talking about his music.

Hunter Wolfe is how those in the blues world know him, and he's quickly making a name for himself.

Two years after he picked up a guitar for the first time--and knew instantly the instrument was made for him--Hunter earned a national title. He was named best slide guitarist at the 10th annual National Slide Guitar Festival in Brevard, N.C., last month.

Slide guitarists put a glass or metal tube over the pinkie, pointer or middle finger, and slide it over the neck of the instrument as they play.

"I love the sound. It has a lot of soul and it's just so mysterious, I guess," Hunter said. "You hear the grumbles and groans it makes on the strings. It has a lot of personality."

The tone created also fits the she-done-me-wrong songs the teenager writes.

Hunter Wolfe throwback to history Ethan Wiebe, who goes by the stage name Hunter Wolfe, has been old from birth, said his mother, Wendy Wiebe. "I have a picture of me at age 1, and I'm dressed like an old man," Ethan said about his khaki trousers, suspenders and felt hat. When he performs, the 16-year-old with jet-black hair typically wears an old-style blazer or suit vest, button-down shirt, red Converse tennis shoes and a gray hat, à la Frank Sinatra. In yet another throwback to earlier times, Ethan uses his family's draft horses to harvest hay and trees. "He is young, but he has an ancient soul," said Fleetwood Covington, a blues artist from Wilmington, N.C. INFLUENCES: Everyone from Robert Johnson and David "Honeyboy" Edwards, a 93-year-old blues master he played with in Washington, to Jack White, of the White Stripes, and Led Zeppelin EQUIPMENT: Owns seven guitars. Most are decades older than he is, and were good deals from music stores or private sales. He's constantly searching pawn shops, yard sales and eBay for vinyl records and other old stuff. SOCIAL LIFE: Doesn't have one. Wouldn't mind hanging out with people his age, but he's so determined to make it in music, he spends all his free time practicing in the two-car garage his family turned into a studio. FUTURE: Can see himself playing regularly in front of audiences of 40,000 or more. Is considering a two-year degree in forestry as a fallback.

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Date published: 10/10/2008

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