Hayden Pedigo | Artist
Hayden Pedigo is an American musician, politician, performance artist, and model, born 1994 in Amarillo Texas. Pedigo's style of ambient acoustic guitar playing is rooted in the rural Panhandle region of Texas where he grew up. His style shows influences of so-called 'American Primitive' musicians such as John Fahey and Robbie Basho. At age 12, Pedigo decided he wanted to learn guitar, and became obsessed with the instrument, with aspirations to play like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Ry Cooder. As his skills grew, his influences would expand to include John Fahey, Robbie Basho, Daniel Bachman, and Mark Fosson—guitarists of the American Primitive Guitar style. The young Pedigo moved on to studying European experimental acts such as Soft Machine and King Crimson, and jazz artists like Miles Davis and Pharoah Sanders. In 2012, Pedigo sent a video of himself playing guitar in an abandoned elementary school to the Austin label Maramara Records. The label took him on and released Pedigo’s first album, Seven Years Late in 2013. After several more low-key albums, his critical breakthrough came with the album Greetings From Amarillo, which drew strong reviews such as the following from RYM: "Probably the youngest American Primitivist I've heard, and some of the prettiest stuff you're likely to find in this genre. You can hear his youth in it for sure. He frolics and enjoys himself, but he also dances through those artful thwangs with perfect grace." Pedigo has gone on to release nine consistently strong studio albums, culminating in a string of superb later works. Standouts include Greetings From Amarillo (2017), Letting Go (2021), The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored (2023), I'll Be Waving as You Drive Away (2025), plus Live in Amarillo Texas (2024). Writer Alex Frank described Pedigo's music as "thoughtful, somber, spare plucking of acoustic notes, with an overall country-and-Western sound that’s quiet in its confidence and curious in the way that it’s simultaneously muscular and modest.. He has sprinkled different seasonings along the way, adding ambient electronic effects on one album and organs and vocal interludes on another. But the core Pedigo sound remains unshaken — two hands on six or 12 strings." In 2018, at the age of 24, Hayden Pedigo drew national attention when he mounted a campaign to fill a city council seat in his hometown of Amarillo. In a profile on the young candidate, Rolling Stone noted: “If surrealist film director David Lynch were in charge of a political campaign, it might look something like Pedigo’s.” Although he was ultimately unsuccessful, Pedigo used his voice to draw attention to what he saw as rampant cronyism and inequality in Amarillo. In November 2021, Pedigo made his runway debut in Gucci's 100th anniversary fashion show, “Love Parade.” He modelled their Spring-Summer 2022 collection alongside fellow musicians St. Vincent, Phoebe Bridgers, and Steve Lacy.
Artist Website: haydenpedigo.com
Featured Albums: Hayden Pedigo
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