The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored

Album review

Being a weirdo in West Texas creates solitude. And yet clever Hayden Pedigo, son of a truckstop preacher and himself a near-miss candidate for Amarillo City Council at age 25, has made oddness a virtue. Fond of appearing in outsized cowboy outfits, Pedigo, a fingerpicking guitar stylist, knows—according to a Texas Monthly profile—that "there's something special about the juxtaposition that comes from making strange art in a place that doesn't necessarily get it." A follower of the John Fahey school of acoustic guitar fascination, Pedigo has grown immensely both as a songwriter and a dexterous and precise guitar player since his 2021 album Letting Go, whose cover art featured him in Norwegian black metal face paint. His latest all-instrumental outing, The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored, focuses squarely on what picked guitar strings can suggest. In "When It's Clear," he cleanly progresses through delicate chords punctuated by silent pauses for emphasis. The title track works in the same way, with Pedigo slowly and methodically working his way through a tune and its repeats, strategically pausing here and there to allow the listener to catch up. The album's producer Trayer Tryon provides support on synths and bass while Robert Edmondson adds piano and bass. Luke Schneider, who's worked with Margo Price, adds the pedal steel which is a natural partner to Pedigo's redolent string ventures. Recorded in Florida at Pulp Arts, the mix wisely keeps the focus on Pedigo's guitar with the synths and pedal steel adding moaning and rippling atmosphere. Tryon has coined the descriptive term "a sunset of sound" to describe these backgrounds built into the tracks after Pedigo played whole takes on guitar. Much of The Happiest Times… evokes longing and a reaching, seeking tenderness as in "Nearer, Nearer," where the chords slowly ascend before breaking into a sprightly chorus built on a fast yet beguiling and sweet guitar figure. While he likes to think of his music as having "barbs" and sharp edges around its obvious beauty, Pedigo is too much a lover of precise stringed grandeur and style. Tight and honed to a fine edge, his soundscapes are gentle and fully enamored with their own resonances. And yet there is no mistaking the ambition that also underlies these seemingly simple acoustic guitar originals. Quietly building an impressive body of work, this eccentric son of the Panhandle hopes that "with enough history, people come to you on your terms." © Robert Baird/Qobuz