Jedd Hughes jumped on a call with us to discuss his life as an artist, songwriter, session player, and sideman.
Last month we covered The Guitar Party at Martyrs and, in doing so, were introduced to Jedd Hughes. In addition to playing some fantastic guitar that night, Jedd played a couple of songs (a cover and one of his own) during an acoustic section of the show. Suitably impressed, we immediately went to listen to his back catalog, Transcontinental and West, the latter becoming a regular feature on our Spotify playlist over the next two weeks. West is one of those albums, similar to Aaron Lee Tasjan’s Stellar Evolution (which we reviewed last year) that you can’t fit easily into any particular genre. Indeed, you’d be very hard-pressed to place it in a “country,” “indie” or “Americana” box. Despite this, the songs all hang together perfectly with each feeling a proper part of the larger whole. It really is a fantastic piece of work by a great songwriter.
After seeing him play some dazzling guitar and realizing what a great songwriter Jedd was, we obviously wanted to speak with him, and – one message later – he was kind enough to make it happen. This was a really great discussion, during which we discussed Jedd’s start in Australia, his move to the US, the first gig he got after getting to Nashville (playing in Patty Loveless’ band), writing songs with Rodney Crowell, and the music industry in general.
Jedd has a new album dropping soon, some of which he has written with the aforementioned Crowell. The first single, “Stay, Don’t Be Cruel,” is available now on your streaming platform of choice. Be sure to go and give it, and the rest of Jedd’s music a listen – after you’ve watched our interview of course!!
