“He grew his hair long for the first time, he had his first serious girlfriend, which is always a huge thing. “It was almost as if we went to one of the epicenters of the counterculture,” Brendan Hedges said. … We were all enriched by it.”Īlong with the trips to Luffenholtz Beach, and hikes through Fern Canyon and the forests near McKinleyville, Michael Hedges was exposed to the wild stylings and diverse nature of Humboldt County culture, namely the counterculture at the time.Īlready at the rebellious age of around 17 and free from the strict dress code of his hometown, Michael Hedges took the new freedom of his surroundings to heart. I think going to Arcata was like that too. Every now and then - it was like a seven-year itch - he would do something crazy like that. “My dad, he could be kind of straight-laced and sort of work was his life, but he did have an adventuresome streak. It was a grand adventure,” Brendan Hedges said. “We leased our house out and away we went in our station wagon to California. Needing a break, their father took a one-year sabbatical to lecture at what was then called Humboldt State College. Michael Hedges grew up playing the flute, piano, guitar and other instruments, some of which he would continue to play throughout his career.Īfter his father completed the immense task of starting the first speech and hearing clinic in the small Oklahoma city, Brendan Hedges said the pressure of work began to take its toll. Hedges’ mother, Ruth, worked in musical education and the arts. Growing up in Enid, Oklahoma, Michael Hedges was brought up surrounded by the study of sound, with his father, Thayne, who was acting as chairman and teaching for a speech pathology and communicative disorder graduate program at Phillips University. “We all got a taste of something that I think we knew we wanted to return to,” he said. He was 43.īrendan Hedges, the youngest of Michael’s three younger siblings, said a “magical year” in Arcata in 1970 would alter the life course of his entire family. Hedges died in a car accident while driving back from the San Francisco airport to his Mendocino County home in December 1997. Some people don’t even know about him, so I usually say, ‘If you think Jimi Hendrix was the pioneer of electric, (Hedges) is definitely the acoustic pioneer.” “In my book, he is the most creative guitar player, the most ground-breaking guitar player ever - beyond Jimi Hendrix as far as I’m concerned. “I don’t know if I would be here today without Michael’s music,” McKee said. Hedges has since been regarded as one of the founders of what has become a worldwide genre, inspiring generations of guitarists like world-renowned musician Andy McKee, who in turn have brought a resurgence of interest to the style through modern outlets such as YouTube. In some circles, he was known as the “guitarist from another planet.” By intermixing these techniques, many people were tricked into believing that more than one guitarist were playing on Hedges’ songs. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Hedges was revered as one of the greatest acoustic guitar players alive for his mastery of composition and sound accomplished by using a unique approach to the acoustic guitar.Īlong with traditional strumming and fingerpicking, Hedges went beyond the six strings by combining a variety of seemingly outlandish techniques - such as hitting the guitar body to make percussive notes, slap-string harmonics, and two-handed string tapping - as well as a vast array of altered tunings to transform a single guitar into a compositional multi-tool. It was definitely the right place for us.” “… There’s almost no place on Earth like it. “For both of us, it was kind of sort of the openness of mind, of creative spirit, the defense of trying new things,” said bassist Michael Manring, Hedges’ longtime friend and musical collaborator. Known for his eclectic, innovative style of acoustic guitar, the late musician Michael Hedges found a creative outlet on California’s North Coast - first sparked by a one-year venture in Humboldt County in the early 1970s.
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