Andy Hedges Archives - The Bluegrass Situation

Artist: Andy Hedges
Hometown: Lubbock, Texas
Song: “Roll On, Cowboys”
Album: Roll On, Cowboys
Release Date: February 24, 2023

In Their Words: “‘Roll On, Cowboys’ was written by East Texas songwriter Bob Campbell who has written songs for the likes of Chris LeDoux and Red Steagall. It’s a tribute to the cowboys who went up the trail in the 1870s and 1880s. But, it’s also an anthem for the cowboy culture that has continued to the present day on working ranches in the West. I couldn’t have brought the song to life without the amazing Brigid Reedy on fiddle and my pard Brenn Hill on the duet vocals. Bob wrote this song after reading firsthand trail driving accounts in The Trail Drivers of Texas (edited by J. Marvin Hunter) and We Pointed ‘Em North by ‘Teddy Blue’ Abbott. For the lyric in the chorus, Bob found inspiration from a quote from Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry when Augustus McCrae tells Woodrow Call: ‘If a thousand Comanches had cornered us in some gully and wiped us out, like the Sioux just done Custer, they’d write songs about us for a hundred years.’” — Andy Hedges

Photo Credit: Kevin Martini-Fuller

Artist: Andy Hedges
Hometown: Lubbock, Texas
Song: “Song of the Cuckoo”
Album: Shadow of a Cowboy
Release Date: April 16, 2019

In Their Words: “I first heard the name Billy Faier in Ramblin’ Jack Elliott’s song ‘912 Greens’ about an epic road trip he and some friends made across the Southern United States. I met Billy after playing a show in Alpine, Texas, immediately recognizing his name from ‘912 Greens.’ Billy was born in Brooklyn, spent most of his life based in Woodstock, but always wanted to live in the desert so as an old man he moved to Marathon, Texas. Billy had traveled with Ramblin’ Jack and Woody Guthrie on Woody’s last trip across the US. He was the first person to interview Dylan on the radio. He taught a song to Dave Van Ronk and Pete Seeger once said that he was the best banjo player he had ever heard. Billy and I became fast friends and had some great adventures together. When he passed a few years ago, I ended up with his beautiful old guitar. I played Billy’s guitar on this recording of his song and it seemed fitting to tag it with a line from ‘912 Greens,’ the song that connected me to Billy in the first place: ‘Did you ever stand and shiver just because you were lookin’ at a river?'” — Andy Hedges

Photo credit: David Tau

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LISTEN: Andy Hedges, “Roll On, Cowboys”

LISTEN: Andy Hedges, “Song of the Cuckoo”