String Theory

TO BRING HIS MUSIC into the world, Michael Hedges had to reinvent the guitar. He did just that over the course of his brief but brilliant sixteen-year career as a recording artist, before dying in a car crash in 1997 at the age of forty-three. Hedges’ lasting influence on the world of guitar composition and performance is hard to overstate. That legacy is the subject of an in-production documentary, Oracle: The Life and Music of Michael Hedges. The upcoming feature film, anticipated for release in 2024, is directed by filmmaking duo Brendan and Mischa Hedges, the late musician’s brother and eldest son. The pair will continue filming throughout this year after a spring crowdfunding campaign, as they carry out their mission to share his singular and stirring sound with others.

“Grief is sometimes a lonely place, and we’re undertaking a very public presentation of someone who we love dearly,” says Brendan Hedges. “So far it’s been thoroughly therapeutic and helpful and satisfying. And no small part of that is people discovering Michael’s music, or telling us how they felt about him. It has great power.”