If there is anyone who is calmly accepting of his talent and the road on which it will inevitably take him, it is Hayes Peebles. The 14-year-old singer–songwriter has a pocketful of songs he has been working on since he learned the guitar (two years ago), which silence any crowd that is lucky enough to witness him. So far, he's only played six or seven supporting shows in downtown venues such as Pianos, Union Hall and White Rabbit, but whispers of his talent are far-reaching: Not many tall, shy kids with floppy hair can sit alone onstage with an acoustic guitar and belt out defiant, keepsake songs with titles such as "Midnight," "Gone Grey," "Condense" and "Light and Lines" as though he were experiencing them for the first time.
When he's not doing
schoolwork, Peebles is in his bedroom, recording his songs on a mini
input and mixing everything on a computer he got for Christmas last
year. He says that songs just come to him. "It's sort of an internal
feeling. I'll try to come up with a chord progression that fits my
thoughts, and then I'll put words to that." He'll write something in
five minutes but spend months working on it, testing it out during shows
or posting different versions on his MySpace page. He's aware that his
age and talent are unusual, even appreciating the challenge when he has
to take the stage after a raucous band. "You basically have yourself and
that's all your sound," he says. Hear his songs at
www.myspace/hayespeebles.com.
Alex Zafiris
Hayes wears a shirt by H&M, jeans by Levi's.
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