Eugene Chadbourne

Described as a direct threat to the American way of life by the White House spokesman for president Reagan, Eugene Chadbourne now threatens our shores with his electric rake, and a mixture of improvised and folk banjo playing.

Eugene Chadbourne has spent his career both undermining and energizing the contemporary rock scene, ignoring all of the barriers traditionally placed between folk, blues, country, jazz, and rock. In addition to working within these Western formats, he feels just as comfortable exploring the sounds of various other cultures, often incorporating Asian and Middle Eastern styles and instrumentation into his creations.

Banjo - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEUTe-Lo_OA&feature=related

With Luther Thomas - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4gW9drVhBw&feature=related

Solo guitar - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv56STEmboM&feature=related

Shockabilly - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olUZ9NN_keI&feature=related

Electric Rake - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h5qF3SwWXc

Likewise, his trademark electric rake--a lawn rake fitted with a pickup--further demonstrates the musician's knack for discovering new sound possibilities. "One of the things I liked about the music in the '60s was how weird it got and how many sound effects were on the records," Chadbourne told Los Angeles Times writer Josef Woodard. "I really missed that when we started weeding that out of rock."

Because of his penchant for combining various forms, as well as inventing his own sound devices, critics find it difficult to place Chadbourne and his growing discography neatly within the scheme of American music. "He is many things at once: a hillbilly improviser, a self-made raconteur, a pop gemologist and a new music eclectic who mixes up jazz, folk, noise and neo-vaudeville," noted Woodard.

Nonetheless, the frizzy-haired Chadbourne has remained one of the underground community's most famous and well-regarded eccentrics since the mid-1970s. In the 1990s, he found a wider audience surprisingly more receptive to his music than in the past, and enjoyed growing success. A man of self-reliance, Chadbourne regularly performs in odd places, such as record and book stores, as well as in smaller clubs and fringe music festivals. With no set lists, anything is liable to happen at a Eugene Chadbourne gig.

Event listed by drew

View their other events or contact promoter