You Don't Know, But You Should: Hayden

"Would you like to listen to some Hayden?"

"I'm sorry. Did you say that you don't know who he is?"

"No! He's not the classical guy. Just get out. Get out of my blog."

"Wait. Don't go. Not yet. Let me explain..."

Hayden is a music artist as I'm sure you've figured out by now. The first time I came across him it was the mid nineties. I had read an article on an up an coming artist who was being tauted as the next Bob Dylan. Well, well, well... big shoes and big words to fill. For some reason, which is very unlike me, I forgot to search out his music (this is before I started making lists of bands to remember... I recommend it). I find myself one day watching MTV *gasp* when they were still playing videos (yes Virginia, they used to play moving pictures to music on that channel at one time), and there is the said heralded artist's video " As Bad As They Seem". From the moment I saw it and heard the sound coming from his mouth I knew he was a special artist. There was this anguish and growl to his voice. When he sang, his vocal energy seemed barely tamable. He had sensibilities like a folk artist (i.e. Dylan) but his guitar was plugged in. He's wasn't political. He was a people watcher, a storyteller and a confessor. There wasn't anything pretentious about the music. It could be seen that way on the surface if it didn't deliver such honesty. On most of the songs from the early album formed these waves of sound that would build and crash gently on you. His music in general is folky, rocky, singer song writer, "I'm gonna play all my instruments" type. Since then the man has put out 5 stunning CD's. By his third album (which took close to 4 years to come out) he took a new direction. Already incorporating a band element, he changed his vocal approach. Instead of the devastatingly low growl, he took on a more airy high vocal range. This change at first was jarring to an established fan, but proved to be the better for it. With the new vocal approach a beauty was added. Just as anguished as it was before, Hayden expanded himself to a more multidimensional artist with the change. Which I for one didn't think was possible to respect he music more than I had. If this posting in any way made you curious about him, I recommend picking up Elk Lake Serenade first. It's really easy to wrap your ears around and then work you way backwards through his catalog. I hadn't intended on any specific song suggestions, but while you are listening to Elk Lake, take a close listen to Don't Get Down. Not only does it detail his inner conflict with continuing in showbiz, it also inspires those of us who are artists to keep on plugging away at our art. Enjoy.