Karl Hendricks. 1970 - 2017.

January 22, 2017 5:39 PM

Guitarist and songwriter Karl Hendricks died yesterday after a three-year battle with oral cancer. He was at home in Pittsburgh with his wife and daughters (wearing a Funkadelic t-shirt). He was 46.

He was known primarily as the frontman of The Karl Hendicks Trio ("Fervently confessional indie rock in the vein of Superchunk, Pavement, and Dinosaur Jr. that combines spindly, wailing guitars with lyrics of heartbreak, dissonance, and disgust. " -- Allmusic), he also owned Pittsburgh record shop, Sound Cat.

Links to tracks on Youtube:
The Worst Coffee I Ever Had
Somewhere a Weekend of Sin
Nogales by Tuesday
A Boy Who Plays With Dolls
Some Girls Like Cigarettes

posted by You Should See the Other Guy (14 comments total)

Naked and High on Drugs
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 5:41 PM on January 22, 2017

. I feel bad that I never got out to see him play; I suck at supporting local music. I did buy many CDs from his store in Bloomfield under its various names.
posted by octothorpe at 6:06 PM on January 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

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posted by pernoctalian at 6:06 PM on January 22, 2017

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posted by Joey Michaels at 7:31 PM on January 22, 2017

Thanks for posting this or else I might not have known. A toast from Cleveland, Karl. I'll be on the radio Tuesday night and "Some Girls Like Cigarettes" will be getting spun.

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posted by SystematicAbuse at 7:34 PM on January 22, 2017

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posted by malphigian at 8:10 PM on January 22, 2017

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posted by nicolin at 5:37 AM on January 23, 2017

i would often see karl walking to and from the record store, as i live just down the street. even after many of us had heard he was ill, i would see him walking down gross street now and again while i was sitting on my porch, and drew solace from that. i only met him a couple times, at the record store, but he was an institution in his own way. i will miss his presence in the neighbourhood.

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posted by buffalo at 9:02 AM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

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posted by droplet at 10:40 AM on January 23, 2017

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posted by sudsy at 10:40 AM on January 23, 2017

I had not heard of him before today. I played his first album, A Gesture of Kindness, at my desk at work. It's brilliant. I wonder how many guys like him there are out there who are only known in their hometown but are amazing songwriters. Hundreds? Thousands? I live in Charlotte, NC and our version of Hendricks in the great David Childers.
posted by zzazazz at 11:33 AM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

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posted by Katjusa Roquette at 4:18 PM on January 23, 2017

Karl Hendricks’ quiet life, at full volume
posted by octothorpe at 6:33 AM on January 27, 2017

I wonder how many guys like him there are out there who are only known in their hometown but are amazing songwriters. Hundreds? Thousands?

It's crazy how good people can be and get....not very far, in the music business.
posted by thelonius at 7:44 AM on January 27, 2017