Hedy West

Hedwig Grace "Hedy" West (April 6, 1938 – July 3, 2005) was an American folksinger and songwriter. She belonged to the same generation of folk revivalists as Joan Baez and Judy Collins. Her most famous song "500 Miles" is one of America's most popular folk songs. English folk musician A. L. Lloyd declared West to be "far and away the best of [the] American girl singers in the [folk] revival." Hedy West played the guitar and the banjo. On banjo, she played both clawhammer style and a unique type of three-finger picking that exhibited influences outside of bluegrass and old-time, such as blues and jazz. She is a 2022 inductee to the Georgia Women of Achievement.

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