Michael Hedges

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Biography

Michael Alden Hedges (December 31, 1953 – December 2, 1997) was an American composer, Acoustic guitar ist and singer-songwriter.

Background

Hedges attended Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma , studying classical guitar. It was here that he studied under his compositional mentor, E. J. Ulrich. Subsequently, from 1979 til 1982, Hedges was a composition major at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland who applied his classically-trained musical background in combination with various unusual techniques to the steel-string acoustic guitar . He covered a wide range of musical styles and was considered an extremely dynamic performer in concert. Michael made ends meet playing and singing in pubs and restaurants in the Baltimore Metro area during his tenure at Peabody. In 1980, he made plans to move to California to study music at Stanford University . He was discovered in February 1981 by William Ackerman who heard him performing at The Varsity Theater in Palo Alto and immediately signed him to a recording contract on the Windham Hill Records|Windham Hill label. He was married to flautist Mindy Rosenfeld but the couple divorced in the late 1980s.

Recordings

Hedges' first two recordings for Windham Hill — Breakfast in the Field and Aerial Boundaries —were milestones for the acoustic guitar. He wrote nearly exclusively in alternate tunings . Some of the techniques he used include slap harmonics (created by slapping the strings over a Node (physics)|harmonic node ), use of right hand hammer-ons (particularly on bass notes), use of the left hand for melodic or rhythmic hammer-on s and pull off s, percussive slapping on the guitar body, as well as unusual strummings. He also made extensive use of string damping as employed in classical guitar, and was known to insist strongly on the precise duration of sounds and silences in his pieces. He also played guitar-variants like the harp guitar (an instrument with additional bass strings), and the TransTrem Guitar. He was a multi-instrumentalist, playing piano, percussion, tin whistle, harmonica, and flute, among others on his albums. Bassist Michael Manring contributed to nearly all of Hedges' records.

Frustrated that his published work reflected only the instrumental side of his creative output, Hedges convinced Windham Hill to release Watching My Life Go By , a 1985 studio recording of Hedges' vocal originals written over a span of 5 years& nbsp;– songs often performed at his concerts leading up to the album's release.

His fourth album, a live recording called, Live on the Double Planet , was assembled from 40 of his live concerts captured from 1986–1987 recordings. Subsequently, Hedges earned the freedom to release his albums with vocal and instrumental songs alike, something his first album would have contained were it not for the direction of record label initiatives.

Hedges had a very broad range of influences and his output spans many genres. His musical education was largely in modern 20th century composition. He listened to Martin Carthy , John Martyn (singer)|John Martyn , and the Beatles , but his approach to composition owed much to Igor Stravinsky , Edgard Varèse , Anton Webern , and Steve Reich , in addition to experimental composers such as Morton Feldman . He saw himself as a composer who played guitar, rather than a guitarist who composed music. He was often categorized as a New Age Music|New Age musician due to his association with the Windham Hill Records|Windham Hill record label. Somewhat in reaction to this, he would describe his music as "Heavy Mental" , "New Edge" , " "Acoustic Thrash" , " Deep Tissue Gladiator Guitar " or "Savage Myth Guitar," amongst other terms.

Hedges toured briefly as a co-bill with Leo Kottke . These shows included solo performances by Kottke and Hedges and, as a finale, a number of duets including performances of Kottke's "Doodles" with Hedges playing a high-strung parlor guitar .

Guitars

Hedges regularly used the following instruments:

1971 C. F. Martin & Company|Martin D-28 guitar (nicknamed "Barbara") with a combination of a Sunrise S-1 magnetic pickup and FRAP contact pickup under the treble strings

custom 1980s Takamine Guitars|Takamine guitars with his name on the headstock

Avalon Guitars|Lowden L-250 guitars

Martin J-65M guitars

1920s Dyer harp guitar configured with a FRAP/autoharp pickup combo / reconfigured with Sunrise S-1 and two Barcus Berry magnetic pickups for the sub-basses (glued straight to the body)

Steve Klein electric harp guitar with a TransTrem bridge

circa 1913 black Knutsen harp guitar (often incorrectly referred to as a Dyer) with a FRAP/autoharp pickup combo—and rattlesnake tail wedged under the sub-basses at headstock

Hedges was left-handed but played right-handed guitars. Hedges would experiment with different pick-ups, effects, and amp combinations to achieve a different and unique sound for every song. Hedges was also able to precisely equalize his instruments for the concert hall in which he was performing. He used state-of-the-art equipment such as Sunrise soundhole pickups, F.R.A.P. and later, Trance Audio soundboard transducers.

Death

In late 1997, Hedges died at the age of 43 in a car accident along State Route 128 (California)|State Route 128 in Mendocino County, California|Mendocino County , near Boonville, California|Boonville (about northwest of San Francisco ). According to his manager and longtime friend Hilleary Burgess, he was driving home from San Francisco International Airport after a Thanksgiving visit to a girlfriend in Long Island, New York . His car apparently skidded off a rain-slicked S-curve and down a cliff. Hedges was thrown from his car and appeared to have died nearly instantly. His body was found a few days afterward. After his death, his record Oracle (Michael Hedges album)|Oracle won the 1998 Grammy Award for Best New Age Album .

Hedges' unfinished last recordings were brought to completion in the album Torched (Michael Hedges album)|Torched , with the help of his former manager Hilleary Burgess and friends David Crosby and Graham Nash . Musician Keller Williams recorded a song in tribute to Hedges entitled "Not Of This Earth" and is featured on the CD "Breathe."

A fundraiser to help his children can be found at .

Recognition

"I feel I can always hear his heart when he plays. He respected my playing too, and that simply thrills me." – Pete Townshend

"Michael was unique. His music transcends genre and trend. It's truly musical, fun and enlightening.” – Steve Vai

"His playing has a feel and timbre all its own – technically brilliant, but always organic and true." – Joe Satriani

"One of the most brilliant musicians in America." – David Crosby

"I considered him to be a genius and when he died I lost a great friend." – Graham Nash

"There was simply no one like him." – Bonnie Raitt

"He was a real musician who remained humble even through stardom. A rare breed indeed." – Alvin Lee

Discography

Studio albums

Breakfast in the Field (1981)

Aerial Boundaries (1984)

Watching My Life Go By (1985)

Taproot (Michael Hedges album)|Taproot (1990)

The Road to Return (1994)

Oracle (Michael Hedges album)|Oracle (1996)

Torched (Michael Hedges album)|Torched (1999–posthumous)

Live albums

Live on the Double Planet (1987)

Compilations (solo)

Strings of Steel (1993)

Sounds of Wood and Steel (1998)

Best of Michael Hedges (2000–posthumous)

Beyond Boundaries: Guitar Solos (2001–posthumous)

Platinum & Gold Collection: Michael Hedges (2003–posthumous)

Pure (2006–posthumous)

Compilations (various artists)

An Evening with Windham Hill Live (1982)

A Winter’s Solstice II (1988)

A Winter’s Solstice III (1990)

Windham Hill: The First Ten Years (1990)

Windham Hill Guitar Sampler II (1992)

Carols of Christmas (1996)

Summer Solstice (1997)

''A Winter's Solstice VI (1997)

The Renaissance Album (1998)

Touch: Windham Hill 25 Years of Guitar (2001)

Copyright Citations

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Michael Hedges Photo by: www.harpguitars.net

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