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= Ryan Hedgecock =

Ryan Hedgecock is an American musician, song writer and producer. He was founder or co-founder of these bands: Bed Rock, Lone Justice, Parlor James and Rattlesnake Daddy.

Early Years
Ryan was born in Los Angeles to parents Richard and Rosemary Hedgecock on February 27, 1961. He has two brothers, Brent and Keith. After moving with his family around LA and the San Fernando Valley he permanently settles in Torrance, CA in 1969. In 1971 Hedgecock decides to be a guitarist and gets his first guitar. After attending a live Led Zeppelin concert at the Forum in 1975 Hedgecock has a self described epiphany and settles into a self taught style of playing similar to what he observes Jimmy Page using. Ryan graduated from Torrance High School in 1979. Within 6 months, while working at his family's furniture business, he started his first band, Bed Rock. They staged their first live show on New Years Eve, December 31, 1980 at Cathay de Grande in Hollywood. During this time and through the beginning of 1982 Hedgecock is heavily influenced by both Country music and Rockabilly and also by the rise of the live Punk rock scene in LA. He hears the British Rockabilly band, Levi and the Rockats on TV and sees them play live at Cathay de Grande. The opening act for this show is the Blasters, a local band formed in nearby Downey, CA in 1978, by brothers Phil Alvin and Dave Alvin. In this time period Hedgecock also becomes enamored by the music of George Jones.

Lone Justice period
In early 1982, Hedgecock meets Brian MacLean and his step-sister Maria McKee at Cathay de Grande where they were performing. He also reconnects with Marvin Etzioni who he had heard at the Masque previously and who now was running the acoustic upstairs stage at Cathay de Grande. Attracted by what he heard, Hedgecock became a frequent visitor at the home of MacLean and McKee, who were living with McKee's mother Liz in Silverlake, CA. It was here that they started working on material together. Hedgecock and McKee initially perform as a cover band doing George Jones and Hank Williams songs. Etzioni suggested that they might want to perform more original music. After working and writing together they add Dave Harrington on bass and Don Willens on drums to complete the band. This was the original line-up for Lone Justice. It is also during this period that the band records a number of demo tapes that Etzioni produced. One notable tape they recorded was later remastered and released in 2018 as Lone Justice, the Western Tapes, 1983. In the Summer of 1983 Etzioni joined the band replacing Dave Harrington on bass and was with the band when they toured with Rank and File. In the Fall of 1983 Don Heffington replaced Don Willens on drums and it was shortly thereafter that Lone Justice signed a contract with Geffen Records in the Winter of 1983. After searching for a record producer they settled on Jimmy Iovine.

Amidst a steadily growing press hype the band continues to perform live gigs and record their music thru 1984, releasing their eponymous first album, Lone Justice, in April, 1985. Reviews were mixed and the record only reaches 56 on Billboards top 200 chart. This is followed by a tour with Tom Petty and U2 later in the year. After these tours they were back in the studio to work on their second album - Shelter - which was released in November, 1986. Sales numbers and reviews are worse than their first album. Etzioni and Heffington have already left the band before Shelter is recorded and Hedgecock leaves the band before the record's release, citing artistic conflict. Also, just before leaving the band he gets married to ?? on ??.

From late 1986 through late 1989 Hedgecock attempts to reenter the music scene in LA but realizes that in the aftermath of the Lone Justice debacle his music has little chance of being heard. He decides to move to New York in October of 1989.

New York period
After arriving in New York, Hedgecock goes about making new musical connections. He does gigs as a pick up musician in numerous local bands, hangs out at local live music clubs and also performs set design work in various music video productions. He runs into Joan Osborne in 1994 and works with her briefly before her signing with Mercury records and the release of Relish in 1995. During this year he also meets Amy Allison at the Mercy Lounge. He had been impressed by her vocals on demo work with the Silos. The two put together Parlor James, and are signed to Discovery Records in 1986. They release the EP Dreadful Sorry that year followed by a full length album, Old Dreams in 1998 on Sire Records. These two efforts are well received. After the birth of his daughter Sophia that year and after the moderate success of Parlor James Hedgecock decides to return to LA in late 1999. In that year he joins the Set Dressers Union, Local 44, in Los Angeles.