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.

— Lars Gotrich | November 13, 2023

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

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