Something happened. Between the summer of The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored and the night before Christmas Eve 2023, the music of Hayden Pedigo transformed. Back-to-back months of touring lead to incredible outcomes: First, his chops became more finely honed than ever before, lending a precision and versatility to the songs that would surprise even the most-seasoned Pedigo listener. Second, Hayden lived in these songs, translating them through improvisation and dynamic exploration into emotional juggernauts – instrumental music that sings to the audience. Landing in his hometown of Amarillo, Texas for the holidays to perform at The Amarillo Globe-News Center – home of the Amarillo Symphony – a gorgeous and beguiling set was recorded in front of a crowd of nearly five hundred people. Put to tape by Nathan and Joe Luscombe, mixed by Davis Hart, and mastered by Stephan Mathieu, Mexican Summer proudly presents Hayden Pedigo’s Live in Amarillo, Texas, an album that could one day be mentioned in the same breath as John Fahey’s The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick and Townes Van Zandt’s Live at the Old Quarter.
Rod Smoth is the project of Mississippi singer and guitarist Reed Smith.
Raised in a family of southern gospel singers, Smith first picked up the guitar when he was eight years old. He began playing music with his family and graduated to heavier music in his teens, playing with various bands across the diverse and fertile Jackson, Mississippi music scene. Smith attended college in the Mississippi Delta, and eventually found himself with an internship in Nashville, sleeping on a friend’s couch. It was here that he picked up an acoustic guitar, fingerpicking and singing quietly so as not to bother his roommates. These limitations gave Smith the perfect outlet for his musical vision. By combining the eerie quiet of folk music with the darkness of 90s slow core, Rod Smoth was born.
