Restlessness permeates guitarist Hayden Pedigo’s music, much as it has his life. The Amarillo son has used myriad flights of fancy to escape his Panhandle isolation, including making absurdist comedy videos, modeling for Gucci, and quixotically running for city council. But however chaotic Pedigo’s extracurriculars may seem, his avant-folk “finger-style” guitar playing remains pristine on his sixth album of instrumentals, which was heavily inspired by his recent relocation to Lubbock. “Amarillo having I-40 makes it feel like there’s life constantly running through it, but Lubbock feels disconnected from everything,” Pedigo said in an email. “It’s been fantastic for my songwriting.” The record’s centerpiece, “Elsewhere,” evokes the “nervousness that comes with a life-changing move,” he said. The song sets off with a jaunty melody brimming with open-road optimism and wafts of pedal steel breezing in and out like cirrus clouds. Then everything slows in a hesitant, ruminative second section. Finally, “Elsewhere” deposits you gently in unfamiliar surroundings and leaves you feeling reflective, restored, and ready to take the journey all over again.
This article originally appeared in the July 2023 issue of Texas Monthly with the headline “Elsewhere.” Subscribe today.
