Joshua Hedley

Joshua Hedley, born and raised in Naples, Florida, is a country music singer-songwriter, violinist, and guitarist. His debut album Mr. Jukebox was released in 2018 through Third Man Records.

Joshua Hedley
With Justin Townes EarleKnoxville, TennesseeJanuary 28, 2010
With Justin Townes Earle
Knoxville, Tennessee
January 28, 2010
Background information
Born (1985-01-20) January 20, 1985
Naples, Florida
GenresCountry, folk
Occupation(s)musician
Instrument(s)Guitar, violin, vocals
Years active2004–present
LabelsThird Man Records
Websitehttp://joshuahedley.com/

Biography

Joshua "Josh" Hedley was born and raised in Naples, Florida. He felt "inexplicably drawn" to the fiddle as a child, requesting one by name from his parents at 3.[1] He got his first violin at 8. By 12, he was playing with "middle-aged pickers" at the local VFW. Hedley credits the "ear training" he received through learning the fiddle early in life has helped him become a better singer.[2]

When he turned 19, he moved to Nashville where he became an "in-demand sideman" at Robert's Western World and other venues. He became known around the Lower Broad district of Nashville – where he developed his sound. "I always thought Josh was the best thing going on down on Broadway," says Margo Price, who used Hedley's fiddle on All American Made. "No one carries on the tradition the way Ol’ Hed does. He grew up in it, worked on his chops and earned his place in that world. Now the world gets to hear it."[1]

He became known as "Mr. Jukebox" while playing down on Broad "thanks to Hedley's pristine vocals, unrivaled musicianship, and truly encyclopedic knowledge of country music."[3] He's toured with artists such as Jonny Fritz, Justin Townes Earle, Willie Watson, and others. He was featured in the 2015 documentary Heartworn Highways Revisited.[4] Hedley was listed as one of ten country music acts to watch by Rolling Stone magazine in November 2016.[5]

Hedley was featured on an online variety show hosted by Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show on YouTube Live. The series has also featured Charlie Worsham and Molly Tuttle.[6]

Hedley "maintains a Monday night residency" at Robert's Western World in Nashville, performing there weekly.[7] Margo Price's version of "Ragged Old Truck", featuring Hedley, was released November 2022 on Live Forever: A Tribute To Billy Joe Shaver by New West Records. Also contributing to the 12-song set were Willie Nelson and Lucinda Williams, George Strait, Miranda Lambert, Nathaniel Rateliff, Steve Earle, and Rodney Crowell.[8]

Sobriety

Hedley started writing his own songs after getting sober. As he says of this change in his life:[9]

Sobriety led to ideas. Before that, I really wasn't interested in anything other than getting drunk. And the idea of writing a song never even crossed my mind. I had written a couple of them on the spur of the moment. But once I got sober, it opened up a door in my brain to where all these ideas were. They just kept coming. I couldn't write them fast enough.

Livestreaming

On March 17, 2020, Hedley and his group the Hedliners, together with Dave Cox, played their first livestreamed show at Robert's Western World, where he'd performed "thousands of times" since 2005. Playing to an empty dance floor, after area bars and music venues were shut down in response to the COVID-19 virus threat, Hedley and his musicians made more in virtual Venmo and PayPal tips from fans worldwide than they would on a regular night at the venue.

The performance garnered 53,000 views online within a few days, far more exposure than the 200-fan maximum venue could generate on a given night.[10]

Festivals

Hedley headlined the ISOL-AID festival with Leah Flanagan and Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy in May 2020.[11] He appears September 2022 at AmericanaFest in Nashville, sharing stage with such acts as Lukas Nelson, Taj Majal, and Lori McKenna.[12]

Touring

When asked about upcoming tour dates by Chip Midnight of The Big Takeover in late April 2022, Hedley replied:[13]

I don’t have a lot on the books. I’m sort of in a rebuilding phase right now. I did a pretty bang-up job of tearing my whole career down with drugs and alcohol after Mr. Jukebox. I’m two years clean and starting to right the ship again. I’ve got to get a new manager. I’ve got to get a new booking agent. I’m hoping to get some dates filled in soon because I’ve been in town for three years now and I’m dying to get out.

Hedley has previously toured with Jonny Fritz, Justin Townes Earle, Willie Watson, and others. He returns to Australia in November 2022 to tour in support of his "sophomore" album, Neon Blue. Making stops in Melbourne, Castlemaine, and Brisbane, supported by Emily Nenni.[14]

Mr. Jukebox

Hedley released his debut album Mr. Jukebox in 2018. It was named for his "uncanny ability to perform nearly any classic-country song thrown his way."[1]

Tracks
  • Counting All My Tears (3:15)
  • Mr. Jukebox (3:16)
  • Weird Thought Thinker (2:57)
  • Let's Take a Vacation (3:51)
  • These Walls (2:49)
  • I Never (Shed a Tear) (2:14)
  • This Time (2:36)
  • Don't Waste Your Tears (3:59)
  • Let Them Talk (1:59)
  • When You Wish Upon a Star (2:59)

Hedley selected the only cover on the album, his final track version of "When You Wish Upon a Star", to honor his father, who died before seeing his son succeed in music. As the grateful son says, "We spent a lot of Christmases at Disney World. When I was searching for a cover song, it dawned on me that my dad didn't get to see any of this happen, but he always wanted it."[15]

Hedley says of the type of music he wants to make, and where that fits him in the Nashville music scene:[1]

I would love to be part of the Music City machine as long as I get to keep making the music that I want to make. Bring me in, Music Row. If the machine wants to hear sad fucking ballads about heartbreak with a lot of steel guitar and some strings, then I’ll be a cog in that machine.

Reception

Hedley is driven by a similar goal: to make music that honors tradition in a personal and heartfelt way.[2]

— Ann Powers, NPR

Hedley's got a voice that could sing the phonebook and make it sound like a Sixties gem straight from Billy Sherrill's lost 1960s archives . .[16]

— Rolling Stone

Hedley, an old-school country singer, songwriter and fiddler whose sound recalls Johnny Paycheck and Merle Haggard, has spent years paying his dues in Nashville. Now it's time for the rest of the world to take notice.[17]

— The Tennessean

Mr. Jukebox . . positioned Hedley as an unabashed revivalist, crafting a meticulous, loving re-creation of the heyday of the Nashville Sound, layering supple strings and vocal harmonies over the steady clomp of tic-tac bass.[18]

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Pitchfork

Neon Blue

Hedley released his second album Neon Blue in 2022. He has said that Neon Blue sounds like a mid-‘90s honky-tonk anthem. "The last bastion of country music was the early 1990s, roughly 1989 and 1996," Hedley said. "You could turn on the radio and immediately know you’re hearing a country song. You could still hear steel guitar and fiddle."[19] Joe Diffie's death from COVID-19 in 2020 was the primary inspiration for the album, according to Hedley, who says of the effort: "After these last couple years we’ve had, I felt like I didn’t want to hang my sad-sack, typical brand on people. I wanted to make a record that people could party to."[7]

Tracks
  • Broke Again
  • Country & Western
  • Old Heartbroke Blues
  • The Last Thing in the World
  • Down to My Last Lie
  • Free (One Heart)
  • Neon Blue
  • Bury Me With My Boots On
  • Found in a Bar
  • Let's Make a Memory
  • Wonder If You Wonder
  • River in the Rain[20]

Neon Blue marks the latest moment for the ongoing critical and commercial resurgence of the Nineties Nashville sound.

— Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone

Where modern country music is designed to be pumped out of high-end systems at anonymous, brightly-lit sports bars, Hedley is making music for dives. No top shelf liquor or sleek product placements for Hedley: He’s down at the corner beer joint, drinking whatever’s on tap, in the can or in the bottle.[18]

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Pitchfork

Style

Hedley has said that country music was perfected in 1965, a statement he admits "was a bit hyperbolic." He continues:[2]

Honestly, it's just my favorite era. Country music seems to change every 10 years or so and that Nashville Sound being pioneered by guys like Chet Atkins, Owen Bradley and Billy Sherrill just really speaks to me. But there are things I like about all eras of country music from Jimmie Rodgers to Ronnie Milsap. And my favorites change all the time, I just seem to be firmly planted in the Nashville Sound lately.

Discography

Film
  • Heartworn Highways Revisited documentary (2015)

References
  1. Hudak, Joseph (April 24, 2018). "Why Joshua Hedley Is Country Music's New King of Broken Hearts". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  2. Powers, Ann (February 1, 2018). "Joshua Hedley's 'Mr. Jukebox' Honors Country Music Traditions in a Heartfelt Way". NPR. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  3. McKenna, Brittney (April 12, 2018). "Nashville Calls Joshua Hedley, 'Mr. Jukebox' For A Reason". NPR. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  4. "Revisited | Heartworn Highways Revisited". Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  5. Moss, Will Hodge,Elias Leight,Chris Parton,Andrew Leahey,Joseph Hudak,Marissa R. (November 7, 2016). "10 New Country Artists You Need to Know Right Now". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 30, 2018.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Hudak, Joseph (May 15, 2020). "Old Crow Medicine Show Are Counting the Days in Timely New Song 'Quarantined'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  7. Bernstein, Jonathan (April 23, 2022). "Joshua Hedley Is Resurrecting Nineties Country. But He Really Just Wants to Soundtrack Your Party Boat". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  8. Staff (October 29, 2022). "Margo Price ft. Joshua Hedley "Ragged Old Truck" Out Today – "Live Forever: A Tribute To Billy Joe Shaver" To Be Released November 11th - Guitar Girl Magazine". Guitar Girl Magazine. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  9. Tingle, Lauren (April 17, 2018). "Why Joshua Hedley Has What All Artists Want". CMT News. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  10. Bernstein, Jonathan (March 19, 2020). "How Nashville's Play-for-Tips Musicians Are Adapting in the Age of Social Distancing". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  11. "Jeff Tweedy, Joshua Hedley and Leah Flanagan lead folk-heavy ISOL-AID lineup | NME Australia". NME. May 15, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  12. Trageser, Stephen. "Adia Victoria, Angel Olsen, More Added to AmericanaFest Lineup". Nashville Scene. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  13. Midnight, Chip (April 22, 2022). "Interview: Joshua Hedley". The Big Takeover. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  14. Coeur, Sidonie Bird de la (October 28, 2022). "Nashville Honky-Tonk legend Joshua Hedley is heading to Australia next month". Beat Magazine. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  15. "About". Joshua Hedley.
  16. Browne, David. "2018 Country Music Preview: 30 Most Anticipated Albums and Tours". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  17. Watts, Cindy. "11 Nashville artists who could break out in 2018". The Tennessean. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  18. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (April 27, 2022). "Neon Blue, Joshua Hedley: The Nashville songwriter brings country back to the barroom on a vibrant set that pays tribute to '90s stars like Brooks & Dunn and Garth Brooks". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 27, 2022.
  19. Watts, Cindy (April 2, 2022). "CMT Premiere: Joshua Hedley Applies Honkytonk to his Broken Heart in "Neon Blue" Video". CMT News. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  20. Hudak, Joseph (February 4, 2022). "Joshua Hedley Gives Alan Jackson a Run for His Money With '90s Country Jam 'Neon Blue'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
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