Crowd shot masthead ApologetiX Logo Keith Haynie plays bassBill Hubauer plays lead guitarJ. Jackson sings leadJimmy Vegas Tanner plays drums

Who is Wayne Bartley?

Wayne Bartley burst upon the ApologetiX scene in early 2014, playing lead guitar on a number of singles the band released that year and ever since. He began touring with us (sharing guitar duties onstage with Tom Tincha) in the fall of 2016, and succeeded Bill Hubauer as the mixer of all of our recordings in January 2017.

An old friend of Tom Tincha's, Wayne's first recordings with ApologetiX included"Jezebel," "Goodnews," "Servin' the Father," "Herman's Sermon." "Hanukkah," and "Come on, Heal the Boy," and eight tracks on our Apoplectic CD.

Wayne first met Tinch on the bus in grade school. Many years later, when they were both in their early twenties, Wayne became a guitar instructor, and Tinch came to him for lessons for about three months, even though Wayne says Tinch already had a reputation as an "awesome" guitarist.

The rest of us met Wayne in 2010 or 2011 through Tinch. Wayne even played some guest guitar live with us in March 2011 at our concerts in Bessemer City NC and Alpharetta SC.

Over the years, Tinch had recommended Wayne to us numerous times as a possible guitarist option for live gigs. Consequently, when it became apparent that we'd need extra guitar help in the studio in 2014, Tinch gave us his blessing to get Wayne involved.

Wayne still works as a guitar instructor today, but at one time he was also a flight instructor (1987-88), a corporate pilot for AirEast (1988-89), and a pilot for USAir (1989-90). He left his flying career to focus more fully on the guitar, and we're glad he did. He puts the "jet" in ApologetiX!

Too bad we've already spoofed "Jet Airliner" by Steve Miller. Of course, we could still do "Leaving on a Jet Plane" by Peter, Paul & Mary. Then again, if we asked Wayne to play that one, he might just hightail it back to the friendly skies.