For more than a decade and a half, Burlington, Vermontbased guitarist and songwriter Bob Wagner has been a secret-weapon sideman, lending his licks and leads to some of the tightest live acts in the Northeast. This summer, with the release of his debut solo album Ive Been Down, Wagner steps into the spotlight.

Though the move has been a long time coming. Deeply at home on international tours with Josh Panda and during his foundational stint with Kat Wright and her enchanting retro-soul unit, Wagner was often approached by fans curious where they could find his own music.

A pretty regular thing that happens at shows is I end up doing a song or two on lead during the night, Wagner says. After the gigs, people were always coming up asking where they could see my band.

Ive Been Down, due June 12 on Royal Potato Family, captures Wagner confidently stepping into the role of songwriter and bandleader. The album was recorde