An accomplished fiddle player, Hedley got his first fiddle at age 8, and by 12, he was playing with the pickers at the local VFW. At 19, he moved from his native Florida to Nashville, becoming an in-demand sideman at Robert’s Western World and other bars, and ultimately, a well-respected frontman. Armed with an easy croon and prodigious fiddle playing, he became known as the Mayor of Lower Broad.