[Cover photo credit to Gabrielle Watson]

Andy Hedges will be releasing The Westerner on March 27, 2026, which “blends classic cowboy poetry” with a spare Folk elements. The 13 tracks on the album range from early-20th-century poems to modern tales.

The song, “Eight Bucks & Change”, out now, is semi-modern, set in the era of payphones. The song was co-written by Hedges and Montana “bronc rider and rodeo poet” Paul Zarzyski.

The Westerner was produced by Rich Brotherton and Chris Ryden, and features musicians and guests including Dom Flemons, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Warren Hood, and Josh Baca.

Inspired by the poetry of cowboy poet Charles Badger Clark, “The Westerner” comes from Clark’s 1915 collection “Sun and Saddle Leather.”

Two songs center around Tom Blasingame, a legendary cowboy who worked at the JA Ranch in the Texas panhandle for more than 70 years. Hedges also sets additional poems to music, including pieces from Henry Herbert Knibbs, and performs a cowboy version of Woody Guthrie’s “So Long It’s Been Good to Know Ya,” written by Slim Critchlow.

Hedges is a songwriter, storyteller, guitarist, and collector of cowboy songs and poems. His varied repertoire includes classic cowboy poetry recitations, obscure cowboy songs, dust bowl ballads, and Blues.

He also hosts a podcast, Cowboy Crossroads, which features interviews with fellow musicians and poets. He has performed many times with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. In 2023, he made his Grand Ole Opry debut in Nashville, Tennessee, and in 2024, Hedges brought his album Roll On, Cowboys to Carnegie Hall in New York City.