There’s a mystique that surrounds the story of Eduardo Hernández Saucedo, also known as Ed Maverick. In 2019, the singer and self-taught guitarist from Delicias, Chihuahua, catapulted from a shaggy-haired teenager looking to pass the time by learning Jake Bugg covers to overnight success after gaining traction on platforms like SoundCloud and Spotify. He turned heads with his candid but romantic lo-fi folk ballads and promptly solidified a record deal with Universal Music at just 18 years old. Despite the internet virality, the young singer spent the next few years off the grid, partly due to the difficulties of growing up in the ever-public sphere of social media, which added to the mystery surrounding his deeply melancholic music.
In a new Remezcla Films mini-documentary titled In Search of Ed Maverick, in partnership with Pandora, filmmaker Walter Thompson-Hernández offers a rare glimpse into the world of the Mexican wunderkind, where Maverick talks about his craft, finding a sense of inner peace in Delicias, and his path to Coachella in 2022.
Following a brief stint in Mexico City, Maverick returned to the contrastingly quiet pace of his hometown.
“I reached this point where I was longing for solitude and rest,” he says in the film while sitting in his sunlit home studio. “I fell in love with the lifestyle of here, of not going out.” From there, Maverick gets down to the details behind his songwriting process, like improvising on an acoustic guitar and experimenting on a computer to learn more about song compositions as a musician.
“[Delicias] is a place where literally not much happens,” he also notes. “Everything is very quiet, and the vibe is very, very different from a big city or a metropolis. I really like being here, and I really like living here.”
Picturesque scenes and shots of striking blue skies, gorgeous sunsets, locals operating the machinery at a nearby tortilleria, and a hatmaker tediously steaming the brims of felt vaquero hats capture everyday life in the Northern Mexico City.
“You don’t know who you are and what you represent until you know who you are and what you represent,” the singer muses in the documentary. “I don’t know who I am until I find that out.”
Thompson-Hernández also highlights Maverick’s swift rise from indie troubadour to booking gigs on massive bills. In 2022, the Chihuahua-based crooner made his highly-anticipated debut at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival as one of the youngest and most buzz-worthy acts among the Latine-dominated lineup. Maverick was initially scheduled to appear at Coachella 2020, like many other musicians, his plans were halted amid the mounting festival cancellations in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The singer notes that the weight of reaching this milestone didn’t sink in until he finally took the stage last year.
“When I realized that I was going to be at Coachella, I was like, ‘Orale! Wow, ya estamos en ese punto.’ For me, it was like [being] in that part of a movie where the artist is invited to Coachella. I couldn’t quite believe it. It’s not until I’m there that I start to feel the nerves and start to feel like ‘A la verga! Que pedo? Donde estoy?’”
Fans affectionately chanted “Eduardo” as the elusive and somewhat awe-struck singer-songwriter made his way across the Sonora stage in April of 2022 and opened his monumental set with the dreamy and ephemeral “ensenada,” a cut from 2021’s eduardo.
“La neta, I think it was one of the best sets I’ve ever played…Todo salió bien verga. Todo estuvo bien chingón,” recalls the 22-year-old.
“I’m very, very, very grateful for my life, for the life I have and for the job that I have, and because [making music] can be considered as a formal career.”
Watch the short documentary here:
