Storied improviser Eugene Chadbourne is a leading voice in the American underground, developing new practices in avant song, instrument building, and music distribution since the early 1970s. A founder of the "low-fi" or "low-tech" movement, Chadbourne’s energetic involvement in establishing new perspectives on country, satire, jazz, and folk music has been voiced across instruments as a wholly unique personality. Tuesday, April 5th, 8pm at 55 Walker Street, ISSUE Project Room presents Eugene Chadbourne performing two solo sets. He draws from the collection “Music of my Youth,” presenting original songs and excavating a broad catalog of covers important to his musical development and buried in collected memory. The performance references his “Music of my Youth” volume, released on Chadbourne’s own House of Chadula imprint in 2015.
Organized by Lawrence Kumpf.
Eugene Chadbourne’s body of work is more than daunting. With a prolific output spanning over thirty years of music-making, his influence is vast as to defy description. Eugene began playing guitar at an early age. What began with a simple boyish dream and a Herman's Hermits record transformed into a musical odyssey that has connected an Appalachian heritage to the edges of experimental practice. With few familiar departure points, his songs are rarely performed in the same way twice. Each performance is unique and often celebrates ambiguity, the awareness of music, the instrument, and all that has led up to the moment of performance. The list of artists he has collaborated with runs into pages: Camper Van Beethoven, John Zorn, Aki Takase, Jimmy Carl Black, the Violent Femmes, and a performance with Tony Trischka for William S. Burroughs. He has also written widely about music, penning a tour diary describing his travels with Shockabilly in 1984, and authoring books including I Hate the Man Who Runs This Bar and Dreamory. He is one of the founders of the "low-fi" or "low-tech" movement that came to see thousands of artists creating and releasing their own cassettes (and now CDs) on their own labels. He has also inspired many as a creator of instruments.