SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Michael Hedges, an acoustic
guitarist known for his unusual two-handed picking style and a
co-founder of the Windham Hill music label, was killed in an
automobile crash. He was 43. Authorities who found Hedges'
body Tuesday said his car apparently had skidded off a curve and
down a steep embankment a few days earlier. Known for
innovations such as simultaneously picking both ends of the guitar,
the Grammy nominee described his own music as "heavy mental,"
"acoustic thrash" and "new edge." In the early 1980s, he helped
establish the Windham Hill label with his albums "Breakfast in the
Field" (1983) and "Aerial Boundaries" (1984). He also
collaborated with such musicians as bassist Michael Manring,
guitarist Dweezil Zappa and Crosby, Stills & Nash.
MARTHA IRVINE, Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Michael Hedges, an acoustic guitarist and composer
known for his unusual two-handed picking
style, was killed in an automobile crash. He was 43.
Hedges died in a one-car crash on State Route 128 in rural Mendocino
County, about 100 miles northwest of San Francisco,
California Highway Patrol Officer Bob Burke said Wednesday. A work
crew discovered the guitarist's body in his wrecked
1986 BMW Tuesday morning.
Burke said it appeared Hedges' car skidded off a curve and down a steep embankment a few days earlier.
Known for innovations such as simultaneously picking both ends of the
guitar, the Grammy nominee described his own music as
"heavy mental", "acoustic thrash" and "new edge."
In the early 1980s, he helped establish the Windham Hill label with
his albums "Breakfast in the Field" (1983) and "Aerial
Boundaries" (1984). He also collaborated with such musicians as bassist
Michael Manring, guitarist Dweezil Zappa and
Crosby, Stills & Nash.
"He was a great friend and one of the most brilliant musicians in America,"
David Crosby said Wednesday from his Southern
California home.
A native of Enid, Okla., Hedges' early interest in the guitar and flute
led him to study classical guitar at Phillips University in Enid.
He eventually earned a degree in composition from the Peabody Conservatory
in Baltimore. He also studied electronic music at
Stanford University, where he met Windham Hill co-founder and guitarist
Will Ackerman.
"Michael tore my head off," Ackerman once said of Hedges' playing. "It was like watching the guitar being reinvented."
His music, Hedges once said, was without category.
"If I did have a formula, it would be one more limitation that I would
have to deal with, and I'm not in this business to make
limitations for myself," he said. "I'm in it to get high. That's what
happens to me when I write music."
In recent years, Hedges lived in Mendocino, recording in his Naked Ear
Music studio. There, he incorporated vocals into
albums such as "Taproot" (1990) and "The Road To Return" (1994), but
had returned to instrumentals in his most recent album, "Oracle."
He was scheduled to perform in the Guitar Summit Tour on the East Coast beginning this winter.
He also had been working on his next album, tentatively titled "Torched."
Hedges is survived by his mother, Ruth Ipsen, of Fresno; sister Carol
Hedges of San Francisco; two brothers, Craig of Los
Angeles and Brendan of Madera; and two sons from a former marriage.
Note: Hedges family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be sent
to the Children of Michael Hedges fund, Bank of America,
228 N. Main St., Fort Bragg, Calif. 95437