Hayden Pedigo: Tiny Desk Concert

Hayden Pedigo: Tiny Desk Concert with tags npr, npr music, national public radio, live, performance, tiny desk, tiny desk concert, tony desk, tiny concert

Lars Gotrich | November 13, 2023

Hayden Pedigo's guitar tells stories through musical landscapes. At the Tiny Desk, he plays quiet, gentle melodies inspired by his Texas panhandle home that still manage to kick up little dust storms of the soul.

As a teenager, Pedigo picked up fingerstyle guitar by way of John Fahey and Robbie Basho. A decade later, his songs have taken on ambient and avant-garde textures, yet have never strayed from a strong, narrative drive. The set here features "Elsewhere" and the title track from his most recent record, The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored, plus "Carthage," a personal favorite of mine, via 2021's Letting Go. On songs performed with six- and 12-string acoustic guitars, he makes you lean into the silence to wonder what small gifts await; Pedigo assures us that the long pauses represent Amarillo, Texas' "flat plains that go on forever."

To close, he plays a song inspired by a letter written by National Lampoon founder Doug Kenney; on a borrowed Telecaster outfitted with three humbuckers, "The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored" then takes on a thicker tone à la slowcore cult favorites Duster, rendering the song's bittersweet melody a rumbling tribute.

SET LIST

"Elsewhere"

"Carthage"

"The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored"

MUSICIANS

Hayden Pedigo: guitar

TINY DESK TEAM

Producers: Lars Gotrich, Bob Boilen

Director/Editor: Maia Stern

Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin

Videographers: Maia Stern, Zayrha Rodriguez

Series Producer: Bobby Carter

Audio Assistant: Hannah Gluvna

Production Assistant/Photographer: Michael Zamora

Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Joshua Bryant, Hazel Cills, Kara Frame, Ashley Pointer

VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

#nprmusic #tinydesk #haydenpedigo