Biography
Texan Rodney Hayden attracted critical notice with his first album thanks to its genuine country style that evoked an earlier period. Childhood exposure to an extensive and varied record collection belonging to his father sparked Hayden's affinity for Merle Haggard and George Jones. While still a teenager he began appearing at honky-tonk venues near his hometown of Pleasanton, assembling his initial group during senior year of high school and cutting early demos. One of those recordings reached fellow Texas musician Robert Earl Keen, who offered Hayden a management contract. Nashville declined to pursue him over concerns that his sound was excessively traditional, but Hayden finished an album mixing original songs with covers of material by Billy Ray Shaver and Tom Waits. Keen responded by founding his own imprint, Rosetta Records, which issued the debut The Real Thing in 2002. Although the title seemed to court negative judgment, reviewers across multiple outlets praised the twenty-two-year-old singer and foresaw a promising path ahead because of his respect for earlier traditions.
Albums
