Mr. Hedges died in He was 43 years old. his girlfriend in Long Island, N.Y., said his manager and longtime friend, Hilleary It appeared Hedges had died close to instantly, Otis R. McCollum, 67, an Alexandria stockbroker who previously had been vice president in the trust department of the National Bank of Washington, died of lung cancer Dec. 2 at Sibley Memorial Hospital. [2], Hedges made a living by playing and singing in bars and restaurants in Baltimore while a student at Peabody. Hugh Jones Parry, 81, a sociologist and author who taught at George Washington University for 16 years until his retirement in 1982, died of pneumonia Dec. 3 at Sibley Memorial Hospital. Nonetheless, his early recordings for the label, including the astounding Aerial Boundaries (1984), which has been called one of the most important acoustic guitar records ever made, did much to help establish Windham Hills dominance in the then-emerging new age genre. Her marriage to Jonathan Gal-Edd ended in divorce. (Hot Springs in Lake County) for a couple of days,'' Burgess said. He began playing piano, cello and clarinet while growing up in Enid, Okla. He showed up at my house and invited me into his traveling home (his van) and gave me a private concert. From 1978 until his retirement in 1992, Mr. Guth was an intelligence officer with the permanent staff of Intelligence Community Staff, an interagency organization headed by the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He studied flute and classical guitar at Phillips University in Enid and the Interlochen Music Camp. His tone was rich and flawless. He was a member of the Cosmos Club, the American Historical Association and the American Sociological Society. Handy, the Father of the Blues, for Fingerstyle Guitar, Learn a Simple Guitar Arrangement of the Scottish Folk Anthem Fortune Turns the Wheel, While My Guitar Gently Smirks: Ben Fong-Torres Reflects on Learning Guitar as an Older Adult, How to Add Bass Lines to the Boom-Chuck Guitar Strum. Hedges died in a one-car crash on California 128 in rural Mendocino County, about 100 miles northwest of San Francisco, California Highway Patrol Officer Bob Burke said. He was born in Zurich. Her husband, Regis J. Walter, died in 1986. See the article in its original context from. He was an expert witness in auto and motorcycle liability lawsuits and he was a consultant with the State Department, VISTA, the Peace Corps and the Navy. all over the country and people are just stunned,'' he said. cummings) is the only track featuring Hedges' smooth vocals, and perhaps the most poignant song included. But now, Michael Hedges last recordings have been assembled into a magnificent final tribute, Torched, the album he was working on at the time of his death. document.write('<'+'div id="placement_208209_'+plc208209+'">'); He was as good at friendship as he was at music and I miss him everyday., Steve Vai Michael was unique. The incident took place near popular tourist attraction Dark Hedges, made popular by TV show Game of Thrones. Marie and Christine Ste. home Michael Hedges: Icon of Echoes In Concert 1994. late as Sunday or Monday, Broin said. Michael Alden Hedges (December 31, 1953 December 2, 1997) was an American acoustic guitarist and songwriter. Mr. Henry was a native of Toronto and a graduate of the University of Toronto. Hedges was thrown from his car and appeared to have died nearly instantly. Mr. Ertzinger, who was born in Huntington, Ind., graduated from Manchester College and received an accounting degree from Benjamin Franklin University. Hedges was thrown from his car and appeared to have died nearly instantly. ""I mean, I was somewhat aware of that, but I'm becoming Some of the songs have been live favorites for several years; others will be heard for the first time. (2:45) ((ST. After serving as radar officer with the Royal Canadian Navy during the 1940s, he came to the United States. He had a second home in St. Simons Island, Ga. His early albums for Windham Hill included "Breakfast in the Field" (1983) and "Aerial Boundaries" (1984). A resident of Washington since 1969, Mr. Williams also had been director of Tools for Freedom, a series of vocational programs throughout Latin America that was supported by U.S. and Latin American business executives. For more than twenty years many of us have waited for a book that captures Michaels compositional genius, innovative guitar techniques and tunings, his unique approach to performance and recording, along with the triumphs, adventures and She was a bridge player and served as secretary of the Hits and Mrs. bowling league. I would anxiously await every one of his releases and cherish them for the brilliance that they are. On this day 20 years agoDecember 2, 1997the amazing and influential fingerstyle guitarist Michael Hedges was killed when the car he was driving veered off a cliff in Mendocino County, California. He was 43. (Crashes investigated by agencies outside the Missouri State Highway Patrol are not included.) Michael Hedges, an acoustic guitarist and composer known for his unusual two-handed picking style, was killed in an automobile crash at age 43. ''We weren't alarmed Mr. Hedges died in a one-car crash on Highway 128 in rural Mendocino County, California Highway Patrol officer Bob Burke said. contributed to the crash, Burke said . His car apparently skidded off a rain-slicked S-curve and down a 120-foot (37 m) cliff. HUGH JONES PARRY Sociology Professor. He respected my playing too, and that simply thrills me. Col. Ste. Michael Hedges LIVE 5-6-1995 Ryan Davis 206 subscribers 64K views 4 years ago Shortly after the Oklahoma City Bombing, Michael Hedges appeared at a local Burgess said family and friends in Mendocino WebMichael Hedges is perhaps the most innovative and kinetic acoustic guitarist in the history of the instrument, but he is first and foremost a composer who plays guitar, not a guitarist who plays compositions. In high school, he also played the flute in the stage band. A trust fund has been set up to benefit Hedges' sons. var plc208206 = window.plc208206 || 0; first -- one who just happened to play guitar, as well as flute, cello, clarinet and A resident of Clarksville, Ms. Watkins was born in Illinois. Mr. Williams was born in Westport, Conn., and attended Cornell University. His marriage to Helen Junkins ended in divorce. On this day 20 years agoDecember 2, 1997the amazing and influential fingerstyle guitarist Michael Hedges was killed when the car he was driving veered off a She was a native of Sayre, Okla., and was an office worker in her home state before moving to the Washington area in 1951. I played the demo sequence for Larry Hamby, head of A&R at Windham Hill, says Burgess, and we discussed the options, from hiring a producer to finish the album, to hiring a great engineer to mix it, to releasing it untouched. Authorities still weren't certain Wednesday Michael has left us with some timeless treasures. Hedges' first album, Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Subscribe to the Michael Hedges Newsletter. Over the coming months and years, its likely that the remaining handful of unreleased studio recordings, several tours worth of live recordings from the mid-90s, and a planned tribute album featuring some of Hedges more famous collaborators and admires, will keep that connection flourishing, along with, closely following the release of Torched, some spectacular concert video footage, both recent and historic, to be made available through Michaels own fan-based mail order outlet. For the sound engineer from New Zealand, see, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Guitarist Michael Hedges Dies In Car Accident", Michael Hedges: Harp Guitar Player of the Month, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Hedges&oldid=1129292854, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from December 2017, All articles needing additional references, Pages using infobox musical artist with associated acts, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, A 1978 Ken DuBourg custom made steel string guitar (stolen and returned many years later), 1920s Dyer harp guitar configured with a FRAP/autoharp pickup combo / reconfigured with Sunrise S-1 and two Barcus Berry magnetic pickups for the sub-basses (glued straight to the body), Steve Klein electric harp guitar with a Steinberger TransTrem bridge, circa 1913 black Knutsen harp guitar (often incorrectly referred to as a Dyer) with a FRAP/autoharp pickup comboand rattlesnake tail wedged under the sub-basses at the headstock, Custom Ervin Somogyi acoustic (as credited on, This page was last edited on 24 December 2022, at 15:10. Since earlier this year, Ms. Watkins had been music director of the Annapolis Symphony Chamber Orchestra and resident conductor of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra. var abkw = window.abkw || ''; Torched is the final recording guitarist Michael Hedges was working on at the time of his death, caused by a fatal car accident on December 2, 1997. According to his manager Hilleary Burgess, Hedges was driving home from San Francisco International Airport after a visit to a girlfriend in Long Island, New York. We remember him here with a video of Hedges playing his best-known original piece, Aerial Boundaries, which appeared on a hit Windham Hill album of the same name in 1984. if (!window.AdButler){(function(){var s = document.createElement("script"); s.async = true; s.type = "text/javascript";s.src = 'https://servedbyadbutler.com/app.js';var n = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; n.parentNode.insertBefore(s, n);}());} var AdButler = AdButler || {}; AdButler.ads = AdButler.ads || []; View Source Suggest Edits Memorial Photos Flowers Maintained by: Find a Grave Paul E. Ertzinger, 86, a retired FBI special agent who served as a liaison to the U.S. Capitol, Supreme Court and the White House, died Dec. 2 at Rockville Nursing Home after a heart attack. var abkw = window.abkw || ''; He graduated from Syracuse University and received a master's degree in international affairs from Boston University. After serving in the Army during the Korean War, he graduated from the Naval War College and began a career with the Defense Intelligence Agency. ", He was scheduled to go on tour this winter. It was released posthumously This story includes information from Windham Hill's Web Be the first to knowwhen newstories, learning resources, merch, video and music arereleased onthe Michael Hedges website. He was a member of the University Club, the Capitol Hill Club and the Chevy Chase Club. ", In recent years, Mr. Hedges lived in Mendocino, recording in his Naked Ear Music studio. Such an artist was Michael Hedges . He served in the Army for 27 years and was posted to Germany, Canada and Vietnam, where he served two tours during the war. Survivors include three children, James E. Solowiej of Moore Park, Calif., Eric Jon Solowiej of Richardson, Tex., and Sandra Solowiej of Arlington; four brothers; two sisters; and five grandchildren. Hedges performed regularly at venues throughout Southern California, including Los Angeles Universal Amphitheatre and the Roxy, Orange Countys Coach House and San Diegos Humphreys. She was a legal secretary in Washington in the early 1950s. Hedges died in a one An album that would integrate the two had been a dream of his for a long time.. ROBERT M. GUTH Senior Intelligence Officer. After his death, his album Oracle won the 1997 Grammy Award for Best New Age Album. Survivors include two children, Courtney McCollum Doherty of Washington and Bradley C. McCollum of Gorham, Maine; a sister, Marguerite McCollum Howe of Winston-Salem, N.C.; and a brother, Henry E. McCollum Jr. of Martinsville, Va. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Because of my initial misgivings about turning anything over to the industry so soon after Michaels death, compounded by the fact that, personally, I wasnt immediately ready to spend a lot of time in Michaels studio listening to him sing, the album ended up revealing itself gradually over a period of months., Using Michaels notes, his own recollections, and the sometimes cryptic markings on tapes, Burgess was able to ascertain Michaels intended sequence. He won a guitar scholarship to the Stan Kenton Jazz Camp and went on to study music at Phillips University in Enid. "new age'' or anything else, his manager said. As a songwriter, Michael didnt have a standard M.O. document.write('<'+'div id="placement_208206_'+plc208206+'">'); Some of the techniques he used include slap harmonics (created by slapping the strings over a harmonic node), use of right hand hammer-ons (particularly on bass notes), use of the left hand for melodic or rhythmic hammer-ons and pull offs, percussive, syncopated slapping on the guitar body, as well as unusual strumming. Marie Lemnitzer, both of Arlington, and Stephen Ste. ; a brother; and two grandchildren. liked to be flexible about his schedule. cummings poem i carry your heart with David Crosby and Nash on harmonies; The Road to Return (1994), a collection of intensely personal material, predominately vocal; the Grammy-winning Oracle (1996), a return to solo guitar, again featuring a lone vocal. In 1986 fund has been set up to benefit Hedges ' smooth vocals, and that thrills. 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