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Storytelling Texas guitarist Hayden Pedigo launches nationwide tour in Albuquerque
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Instrumental guitarist and consummate storyteller Hayden Pedigo is coming to Fusion on Wednesday, Oct. 22.
Pedigo characterizes his music as “ambient, New Agey country music with instrumental guitar.” The unique sound, he said, is rooted in the landscape of northern Texas, where he grew up and continues to live.
“I’m from Amarillo, which is up in the Texas Panhandle, which I jokingly say is the part of Texas that the rest of Texas pretends isn’t a part of Texas,” he said. “It’s a flat, dry, windy part of Texas. The flatness and the wind has inspired my music so much. It shows up in my music in the silence and the pauses, and also the restlessness and melancholy.”
Between songs, Pedigo tells stories.
“I tell a lot of stories in between, because the songs don’t have any lyrics, so I try to fill in some of the blanks by telling stories about the songs and where I’m from,” he said. “I try to bring people to the Texas Panhandle through my songs, wherever the shows are, and I try to be entertaining.”
Pedigo called the panhandle “a strange place,” noting that growing up there as an artist was not always easy.
“It can feel like living on an island. You feel cut off from the rest of the world at times,” he said. “You have to work really hard and dig deep to find inspiration.”
Over the years, though, Pedigo has increasingly found inspiration there, and it’s become an inseparable part of his musical identity.
“I take a lot of pride in where I’m from,” Pedigo said. “I think it’s important to take pride in coming from difficult places. I own the beautiful parts of it and recontextualize the hard parts of it to be beautiful, as well.”
Pedigo began playing guitar at the age of 12, and his style has evolved over the years.
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“When I was 14 or 15, I found the guitarist John Fahey, who innovated a very specific kind of finger-picking style that was a bit more experimental-leaning and warped, and I became obsessed with that,” he said. “Over the years, I developed my own voice. And I think my songwriting style, at least with instrumental guitar, is more melodic-forward.”
Other musicians have inspired his stage persona.
“I’m inspired by old-timey entertainers,” Pedigo said. “Even finger-pickers like Merle Travis in the 1950s. When he performed solo, he would tell jokes and stories in between songs. And if you listen to country artists like Buck Owens, he’s not just playing songs. I feel like a good performance is also about engaging with the audience.”
Pedigo described his own storytelling style as “more oddball” than Travis and Owens.
“I’m kind of an unreliable narrator with the stories,” he said. “But I just have fun onstage. Sometimes I do a lot of talking, and sometimes I ask the audience if they have any questions for me, and I answer questions. It can go so many different ways.”
Pedigo released his latest album, “I’ll Be Waving as You Drive Away,” in June, and he just completed a major European tour.
“I just played my very first tour of Europe last year. And from that tour to this tour, the growth of the audience was pretty sizable. I’m just shocked at how well received my music is over there,” he said. “Dublin and Paris were the two best audiences of the tour. They were really on fire.”
Pedigo’s upcoming North American tour — the longest of his career — launches in Albuquerque.
“My family took a vacation to Santa Fe every summer for my entire childhood, and I spent a lot of time in Albuquerque, too,” Pedigo said. “So, New Mexico is a very nostalgic place for me.”
