This year sees the end of an era of sorts for Texan instrumentalist Hayden Pedigo, with the release of I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away (reviewed here) completing his ‘Motor Trilogy’. We met to find out more about the making of this ‘bittersweet’ finale.
Hayden Pedigo’s new album I’ll be Waving as You Drive Away sees the completion of his ‘Motor Trilogy’ (with The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored and Letting Go), a work that has been informed significantly by Amarillo Texas, the vast sparse landscape that Hayden grew up in and that comes through in his shimmering, multi-layered guitar music. The trilogy is a considerable achievement, and this third chapter completes a love letter to Texas. “Amarillo is the number one most defining influence on my music,” Hayden nods. “It’s where I grew up and only recently left. There’s the space, the flatness and the wind, all of which factor into my sound. It feels kind of infinite and isolating at the same time and a lot of the pauses and breaks in my music feel reflective of that landscape. If you go to the edge of town, the Panhandle, it’s just flat, like an ocean of land. I think that shines through in a big way.”
How has the response to the album been so far?
Well, so far, it’s been fantastic. It’s certainly felt like the most intense response to a record that I’ve ever received, but it’s a good kind of intense, and that’s a really good feeling.
Going back, what was it about instrumental guitar that drew you in?
It was a matter of timing when I found John Fahey’s music at fourteen or fifteen years old. At that time, I was living outside of city limits in the country, and it was good to discover Fahey in that environment. So I took that music and copied it when I was a teenager, but over time, I found a way to translate my own story through Fahey and turn it into myself, I guess. My music stopped sounding a lot like Fahey once I’d let the landscape and my story guide my writing; then the narrative of the place really came through.
Did you find that it got exciting when your own sound started emerging?
Yes, but it sneaks up on you, and it took me quite a bit of time to figure out what my voice was. But even before John Fahey, I was obsessed with seventies prog-rock, particularly Genesis and King Crimson, and I noticed that a way I was able to break out from Fahey – because his music can be a black hole – was Genesis and that ethereal folky twelve string sound. Anthony Phillips was their original guitar player, and his style really influenced me, so I was able to take Fahey and add in Anthony Phillips, Genesis, and prog-rock. Once I was able to meld those things, I took them and applied them to the Texas landscape. It was a mutation and a lightbulb moment.
I read there was a specific Fahey album that influenced your new record?
Yeah, The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party, which came out in 1966. It stuck out this time round because the mood is very foggy and hazy and mysterious. My album is not as experimental as [Fahey’s], which uses a lot of tape loops and experimental textures; on mine, the subtle psychedelic elements come from tape echo, electric guitars, and things like that. My record is far more subtly psychedelic than the Fahey one, but that’s where the idea came from.
You fit a lot of sounds and textures onto the album…
Well, I’ve been a fan of [producer] Scott Hirsch for a long time, and I wanted to make this one with him from the start because I know his sound and I know what he brings to records. I have to give him so much credit for the sound of this one. All the music he works on has this subtle psychedelic sound to it, and I know he’s into seventies reggae records and to me, reggae is the ultimate lowercase psychedelic music. It’s not really viewed as psychedelic as such, but it is far more than anything the Beatles did! Way hazier and with more tape echo, and I think Scott really brought that to this album. And it was cool to bring those effects onto a record with very literal compositions. The pieces aren’t improvisational, and there’s not any looseness; they’re very tight, so we thought about how to bring a psychedelic element to something so thoroughly composed.
It’s also a relatively short album…
I think, minus the bonus track, the album is twenty-eight minutes and fifty seconds. All three of the trilogy records are all around that length because I’m a huge fan of very short, concise records. A lot of that comes from a lot of rap albums that I know and love, and that use the format of a short, concise listen.
How does this album differ from the other two in the trilogy?
Well, the most immediate difference is it’s far more maximalist. We utilised heavy strings, mellotrons, synths, and bass; there’s a lot more on this record, and I think the compositions are more intense and bolder than on the previous two. But I also think there’s something more intense about this one in terms of the emotions running through it… It’s a feeling I get when I put it on, and because it’s the ending of this Motor Trilogy, it almost feels like I was building up a house, and at the very end, it collapses and vanishes. I can’t say that’s a comforting thing; there’s something disturbing about getting to the end, and that’s it. I think the intensity comes from me trying to say everything I can in less than twenty-nine minutes. It does feel like in these three records, I’ve told the story of my life so far…
I don’t have words on my records, so I can’t tell people exactly what I’m talking about on the songs, but people can pick up the mood and the feeling of the music and know that there’s something there. So, this album ends on quite an intense note; I would say [with the title track] if that’s the right word… Something heavy.
But is there any sense of relief that you’ve pulled it off?
Oh yes, there’s a major sense of relief. The schedule to do these records has been challenging; to keep a schedule of releasing every other year, I’ve been writing, recording, touring, writing, recording, touring since 2021. But now I have to build something new with myself because this series is over. There was always this comfort from relying on the fact that I had these album covers [paintings by Jonathan Phillips]. I knew there was a theme and framing that I could work within and now I’m done with it. It’s bittersweet; I’m glad it’s over, but I’m also sad because I’ve spent years relying on the next one coming, the next chapter. It’s like a book series that’s ended, and I now have to write a completely new story…
Any ideas yet?
Nope! [Laughter]
The covers are striking, and there’s a sense of humour to be found there.
I think all three album covers are the heart of this series, and I attribute those covers to the success of these albums almost as much as the music, some days even more so. People are often introduced to the covers before the songs, and the energy behind the covers is so strong. There’s an intensity to them, a humour to them and a sadness; they cover a lot of ground, and I’m sad that it’s over because I really love those covers.
What did you want from the other musicians on this album?
Well, the approach to using other musicians hasn’t really changed much because it’s usually just friends of mine that I know will serve a great purpose on the record. On this one, my friend Nathan Bieber was the clear choice to do the strings; Scott produced, and he’s a bass player, so he played bass on there; Jens [Kuross] played piano, and I’ve just co-produced his new record. And then Nicole [Lawrence] played pedal steel, and she plays for Jenny Lewis, who I opened for [on tour]. So, really, it was all of these people that were in my life at that time, and it made perfect sense to work with all of them. I just go with the obvious, and I love everything they brought to this album.
I’ll be Waving as You Drive Away (June 6th, 2025) Mexican Summer
Order I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away via Bandcamp: https://haydenpedigo.bandcamp.com/album/ill-be-waving-as-you-drive-away
Touring the UK in August/September, see below.
Tour Dates
Ticket links: https://linktr.ee/haydenontour
August 26th – London – Kings Place
August 27th – London – Stranger Than Paradise (In-Store)
August 28th – Manchester – St. Michael’s
August 29th – Larmer Tree Gardens – End of The Road Festival
August 30th – Cardiff – Clwb Ifor Bach
September 1st – Dublin – The Grand Social
September 2nd – Belfast – The Deer’s Head
September 4th – Glasgow – Mono
September 5th – Edinburgh – St. Vincent’s Chapel
September 6th – Newcastle – The Lubber Fiend
September 7th – Leeds – The Attic
September 10th – Aarhus – Alter Festival
September 12th – Berlin – Gretchen
September 13th – Bochum – Die Trompete
September 14th – Leffinge – Leffingeleuren Festival
September 16th – Laval – La Guinguette le 11-22
September 17th – Lyon – Le Sonic
September 18th – Milano – ARCI Bellezza
September 19th – Reggio Emilia – Acid Tank
September 21st – Marseille – Le Molotov
September 22nd – Barcelona – Sala Upload
September 24th – Lisboa – ZDB
September 25th – Vigo – Radar Estudios
September 26th – San Sebastian – Lugaritz K.E.
September 27th – Bordeaux – Base Sous-Marine de Bordeaux
September 28th – Paris – La Boule Noire