Michael Hedges: A New Documentary in Need of Funding

My two favorite guitarists of all time are both gone now. Eddie Van Halen, of course, wiped out the hard-rock world when he passed away in 2020, just as the steel-string acoustic guitar community was devastated by Michael Hedges’ sudden departure from the earth in 1997. If anyone decides to make a documentary about Eddie Van Halen—and they should!—funding isn’t likely to be an inordinate challenge. Hedges, it’s safe to assume, did not have quite the reach that Van Halen did, and that brings us to the point of this post.

Hedges’ brother and son are crowdfunding a documentary about this extraordinary musician and human being, and they could use your help. As is pointed out in one of the clips you can view on the pledge site for ORACLE: The Life and Music of Michael Hedges, this groundbreaking guitarist and composer didn’t live quite long enough to enjoy the viral fame that surely would have come to him through platforms like YouTube. As a result, an entire generation of talented acoustic guitar percussionists and pyrotechnicians has sprung up with little public acknowledgement or awareness of its musical ancestry, of the debt owed directly to Michael Hedges.

So I encourage you to watch the clips that are already available on the pledge page and decide if the cinematic treatment of Michael Hedges’ immeasurable contributions to acoustic guitar music is deserving of your support. If you can’t contribute, maybe I’ve at least pointed you in the direction of his music, which it’s never too late to discover. Just don’t be surprised if it ends up changing your life.

I’ll leave you with an instrumental guitar piece I wrote shortly after Michael Hedges died. It’s called “No Boundaries,” a play on the title of his revered composition “Aerial Boundaries," and the album of the same name. (The best of my own music can be found in one handy post, by the way; simply click here.)