“It took me a few years to figure out that if you’re going to play Fender guitars, you play with Fender amps”: Ryan Hedgecock stuck to his own creative path, even when Lone Justice were torn apart

Ryan Hedgecock.

Ryan Hedgecock formed Lone Justice in the early ‘80s as part of his journey from glam-loving kid to punk-meets-country Tele slinger, aiming to express “the indigenous sound of LA.” He nearly did it too – with the big-voiced Maria McKee out front, Lone Justice took the city by storm, garnering praise from Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, before signing with Geffen Records.

“People liked that we were doing something with country music that hadn’t been done before,” Hedgecock says. “The emphasis was on good songs. I was trying to push guitar stuff into a place that nobody was going with country guitar at that time.”