Carl Wockner’s Live-Looped Kindness Hits All the Right Notes in Bar Harbor

From Australia to the Annex, Wockner Builds a Musical Moment

Jul 27, 2025

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by the Bar Harbor Music Festival.

BAR HARBOR—The stage at the Annex seemed barely big enough to hold solo, live-looping performer and songwriter Carl Wockner, Wednesday night. That had nothing to do with the stage’s size. It had everything to do with just how large a sound and engaging a presence Wockner has.

That presence?

It’s something special.

The Australian musician is known for his signature red glasses, but it’s his talent and his kindness that really makes this musician something special. It’s evident in every interaction.

On Wednesday, during his performance, Wockner chatted with people who were leaving after eating their dinners.

A little girl waved. Leaning forward, smiling, he waved back. She waved again. He waved again, completely in the moment of interaction.

That’s the thing. Wockner is completely inside, dwelling in the moments when he’s on stage. His body moves, jams, and becomes the songs he’s bringing into the world or revisioning into the world.

That’s special, too.

“Music is the soundtrack to life, but LIVE MUSIC keeps us living,” he said in an interview, Tuesday.

There will be a lot of living this week at the Annex where Wockner will play all week.

“Live music is more important than ever as it’s one of the few life experiences that remove you from technology, and brings you closer to your community. Most people have a significant live music experience whether its personal healing, love, life milestones, etc.,” Wockner said.

“He’s amazing,” said Bo Jennings, director of operations at the Annex, said Wednesday night, standing against a wall, smiling as Wockner happily engaged with a man named Shawn down at the end of the bar. “Can you believe it?”

Women at the bar’s closer end to the stage wrapped their arms around each other as Wockner launched into a Taylor Swift cover. People by the door swayed. Hands held up everywhere—all recording.

The next day, who works at Mount Desert Island Hospital stopped in the middle of the street just to talk about Wednesday night’s show. Amazing, he said. So great.

Sometimes it’s easy to know when a moment is special and when it’s inhabited. That’s part of what Wockner does through his music: he brings people into the moments. He does it all over the world.

“Bar Harbor isn’t that far from Nashville,” he said, laughing when asked about his journeys and if this is what he’d imagined his life would become. “I travel a lot actually, so it’s nice to only fly domestic this time! As a kid I think I was too focused on throwing rocks at stuff or knocking my teeth out trying to do mad stunts on my bike. I had no idea I’d become a performer let alone get to travel the world!”

Cruise ship performances, TikTok viral moments, international competitions, an increasing audience on YouTube and moments of golf and love of family are all part of the life of this international-award-winning looper who has traded mad stunts on his bike for mad stunts in his music.

“I’m most proud of the fact that I am trying to represent a normal guy, with a family, who is really trying to make a move in an industry that devalues ME based on things that shouldn’t matter at all,” he told Nashville Voyager.

Wockner came to Nashville from Australia. Nashville is where the looping became a thing for him.

Learn and Create wrote, “What makes Carl different from most musical performers is his ability to use live looping gear to create multiple instrumental tracks within each song while performing in front of a live audience. Using a special looping pedal, he singlehandedly creates all of the musical parts during a show: the lead vocal, harmonies, bass, guitar, keys, and even drum beats. With each repeating loop using only his voice and small body Maton guitar, he creates different instrumental layers as he plays, building what eventually sounds like a full live band performance.”

Repeating sections of music and creating playback makes the live performance layered, enhancing it, filling it.

Wockner builds the song live, tweaking it, changing it, giving it to the listeners all around him as enthusiastically and kindly as he gave that wave to the little girl, building one layer after another of music, of sound, of experience.

“My dad is a builder, so I spent a lot of time with him working on houses when I was young. Also, both my parents had a unique admiration for music, so I got to hear many styles and listen to my mum play piano and sing in our lounge room,” Wockner told Nashville Voyager in 2022.

Those layers build to make something authentic and magical: each strong a structure that compels entrance.

“At the age of seven, Carl chose violin lessons, then piano at the age of ten, and guitar at 15 years old. He then started playing in various bands but never really considered making a career in music. When he picked up a gig at a local country club and surprisingly got paid after the show as a teen the idea of making money playing music sparked his interest. He went on to college and received a teaching degree but realized he was already making more money playing music than he could as a teacher. At that point, he set out to grow his career as a musician, performer, singer, and songwriter,” Learn and Create explained.

Wockner’s shows at the Annex are sponsored by Baxter Brewing Co.

“Baxter had been such a great supporter of live music, including last year’s (and this year’s) Music Harbor. They were my first call when looking for a sponsor to bring Carl to Bar Harbor again, and they jumped at the chance,” Jennings said. “We are grateful for their partnership, and look forward to the next five nights with Carl Wockner brought to you by Baxter Brewing!”

Each night, a local artist will be the opening act. Baxter is taking over the taps as well.

“ANNEX is amazing!” Wockner said. “I met the Bo Jennings (director of operations) many years ago performing in Nashville, Tennessee. This will be my third trip up to Bar Harbor to perform, and I particularly love Annex at Side Street as the more intimate setting really elevates the atmosphere of live music in a special way.”

During his shows, you can hear hints and tucks of all his influences. You’ll hear R&B, country, pop, and even a bit of swing. There are hints of Aretha Franklin and Chris Stapleton even during a Harry Styles cover.

“If I could list 100 influences in my music, I totally would!! I could put it down to my parents liking polar opposite music styles, but ultimately I think its just that I get bored easily, and so do most crowds—so I see my wealth of musical impressions as a win-win when I perform. For these shows in particular, I’ll pull ideas from the crowd, throw in some mash ups, and keep flipping genres through the whole show,” Wockner said.

His mom would play piano and sing. His dad would put on the music at the same time.

“He was big on instrumentals and left field, funny, quirky melodies,” Wockner said of his dad on his website.. “He’d just play these records with random noises, like the sound of windshield wipers going back and forth over some obscure track.”

When asked about his musical quirk, he teased, “What quirk? I'm PERFECT haha! It’s possible my musical quirk is joking around and really bringing people (and myself) into the present during my shows.”

Some people wouldn’t call that a quirk; they’d call it a gift, and maybe that’s the thing? Maybe it’s the quirks that allow the heart and connection to happen in art and in people and in community.

All photos: Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story