Seth Hedquist Presents: Agrimusic

Fri, Apr 04

Seth Hedquist combines his background in history and music to tell a unique story about Iowa agricultural musicians in the early 20th century, in an all original, twelve-song cycle. --- Hedquist earned a BS in History (2009) and an MA in History (2015), both from Iowa State University. His work focuses on rural Iowa musicians who played at state and county farm bureau events in the 1920s and 30s. He investigates who these musicians were, and what needs they fulfilled for the organization, and for themselves, by participating in those events. His work further examines to what extent the styles they played measured up to farm bureau and Country Life leaders’ expectations for rural music at that time. Broadly, this topic focuses on questions of identity, and the complexities of playing music for organizations during trying times of heightened pressure, like the 1920s and 30s. His master's thesis The Chronicles of Agrimusic won the Iowa History Center’s “Outstanding Master's Thesis Award” in 2016, and his article “Boost the Farm Bureau: Agricultural Leaders, Progressive Musicians, and Social Orchestration in Iowa, 1921 - 1937” appears in Agricultural History (Vol. 93, No. 2, Spring 2019). Hedquist graduated from The School for Music Vocations at Southwestern Community College in 2005. He works as a full-time professional musician in Des Moines, Iowa. As an educator, Hedquist teaches improvisation to students of all ages at The Seth Hedquist School of Music and Improvisation (SHSMI) in Valley Junction, and is the jazz guitar instructor at Drake University. As a performer, Hedquist has played and recorded with Des Moines artists such as Bonne Finken, Nella Thomas, James Biehn, Max Wellman, Dustin Smith, and The Maytags. He has played with the Des Moines Symphony since 2015; pieces include George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (tenor banjo) and William Bolcom’s Ragomania (guitar). With the Symphony he has also accompanied Tony Award-winning performers such as Audra McDonald, Sutton Foster, Kristin Chenoweth, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Bernadette Peters and Santino Fontana. He plays at the Des Moines Civic Center for traveling Broadway musicals; past shows include Beautiful: A Carole King Musical, Something Rotten!, Chicago, Mean Girls, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, The Wiz, MJ: The Musical, and Back to the Future. And he has played for the Des Moines Metro Opera’s Porgy and Bess (2022), The Falling and the Rising (2023), and The Barber of Seville, (2024), the last of which he also made his debut stage role as “The Guitarist.” Hedquist is the bandleader for Plymouth Congregational Church’s Saturday Night Band, and is the music director and choral conductor at Wakonda Christian Church.