Eugene Chadbourne

Eugene Chadbourne (born January 4, 1954) is an American improvisor, guitarist and banjoist. Highly eclectic and unconventional, Chadbourne's most formative influence is free jazz. He has also been a reviewer for AllMusic and a contributor to Maximum RocknRoll.

Chadbourne was born in Mount Vernon, New York. He started out playing rock and roll guitar, but quickly grew bored with the form's conventions. He then studied other genres, including blues, country, bluegrass, free jazz, and noise—eventually synthesizing all those heterogeneous influences into a unique style of his own. He was also influenced early on by the experimental stylings of Captain Beefheart and The Mothers of Invention.

He fled to Canada from 1972-1977 to avoid service in the Vietnam War. While there, he produced and hosted a radio program on Radio Radio 104.5 Cable FM in Calgary, Alberta. His show was notorious for obscure and remarkable music. Radio Radio is now the last quasi-pirate station in Canada. Around 1975, he founded Parachute Records to release some of his material.

He returned to the United States and has resided in Greensboro, North Carolina since 1981.

Chadbourne also fronted Shockabilly (1982–1985) with Mark Kramer (bass/organ) and David Licht (drums), releasing four eclectic albums.

A notable solo album, Songs (Intakt 026: 1993), features politically oriented originals, such as "Knock on the Door" and "Hello Ceausescu", and covers, such as Nick Drake's "Thoughts of Mary Jane", and Floyd Tillman's "This Cold War With You".

Chadbourne invented an instrument known as the electric rake, made by attaching an electric guitar pickup to an ordinary lawn rake. He plays a duet of electric rake and classical piano with Bob Wiseman on Wiseman's 1991 Presented By Lake Michigan Soda. He also played the instrument on the Sun Ra tribute album.

Chadbourne has worked with numerous artists including John Zorn, Fred Frith, Derek Bailey, Han Bennink, Carla Bley Band, Paul Lovens, René Lussier, Toshinori Kondo, Kommissar Hjuler and Mama Baer, Camper Van Beethoven, Jello Biafra, Turbonegro, They Might Be Giants, Sun City Girls, Violent Femmes, Aki Takase, Walter Daniels, Kevin Blechdom, Biff Blumfumgagnge, Zu, Sitar Man Ashwin Batish, Brian Ritchie, Tony Trischka and Jimmy Carl Black.

• Volume One: Solo Acoustic Guitar (1976 - Parachute - P001)
• Volume Two: Solo Acoustic Guitar (1976 - Parachute - P002)
• Improvised Music From Acoustic Piano And Guitar with Casey Sokol (1977 - Music Gallery Editions - MGE 9)
• Volume Three: Guitar Trios (1977 - Parachute - P003)
• School (1978 - Parachute - P004&6) with John Zorn
• Environment For Sextet with John Zorn, Andrea Centazzo, Tom Cora, Toshinori Kondo, Polly Bradfield (1979 - Ictus Records - ICTUS 0017)
• Don't Punk Out with Frank Lowe (1979 - QED Records - QED 995)
• 2000 Statues And The English Channel (1979 - Parachute - P007)
• Possibilities Of The Color Plastic with Toshinori Kondo (1979 - Bellows - BELLOWS 002)
• There'll Be No Tears Tonight (1980 - Parachute - P013)
• Torture Time! with Polly Bradfield - Concert recorded at Logos Studio, Gent, Belgium on April 2, 1981 (1981 - Parachute - P016)
• Blues (1984 - Parachute - PA19)
• Country Music Of Southeastern Australia (1984 - RRRecords)
• Dinosaur On-The-Way (1984 - Self-Released)
• The President; He Is Insane (1984 - Iridescence Records - I-22)
• Country Protest (1985 - Fundamental - SAVE 7)
• Corpses Of Foreign War (1986 - Fundamental - SAVE 10)
• Camper Van Chadbourne with Camper Van Beethoven (1987 - Fundamental - HYMN 7)
• LSDC&W - The History Of The Chadbournes In America (1987 - Fundamental - SAVE 19/20)
• Kill Eugene (1987 - Placebo Records - PLA 025)
• Vermin of the Blues with Evan Johns & The H-Bombs (1987 - Fundamental - SAVE 18)
• Kultural Terrorism with Rosenberg (1987 - Dossier - ST 755)
• I've Been Everywhere as The Doctor Eugene Chadbourne (1988 - Fundamental - SAVE 68)
• The Eddie Chatterbox Double Trio Love Album (1989 - Fundamental - SAVE 69)
• Country Music in the World of Islam Volume XV (1989 - Fundamental - SAVE 80)
• Terror Has Some Strange Kinfolk with Evan Johns (1992 - Alternative Tentacles - VIRUS 119CD)
• Blotter LSD C&W 2001 (1992 - Delta Recording Co. - DRCD2)
• Chadbourne Baptist Church (1992 - Delta Recording Co. - DRCD1)
• Hot Burrito #2 with Werner Dafeldecker and Walter Malli (1993 - Extraplatte - EX 186 093 CD, Extraplatte - EX186CD)
• Strings (1993 - Intakt Records - Intakt CD 025)
• Songs (1993 - Intakt Records - Intakt CD 026)
• Locked in a Dutch Coffeeshop with Jimmy Carl Black (1993 - Fundamental - HYMN 2)
• Nismegen Hassen Hunt (1995 - House Of Chadula - 1990D)
• The Acquaduct (1996 - Rectangle - REC E)
• Boogie With The Hook (1996 - Leo Records - CD LR 242)
• In Memory Of Nikki Arane with John Zorn (1996 - Incus Records - CD 23)
• Jesse Helms Busted With Pornography - The C&W Opera By Eugene Chadbourne (1996 - Fire Ant - FA CD-1009)
• Psychad (1997 - Swamp Room Records - 301127, n.UR-Kult Releases - nkr 046 - Limited to 500 Copies)
• Patrizio with Paul Lovens (1997 - Les Disques Victo - VICTO cd046)

With Evan Johns

• Terror Has Some Strange Kinfolk (Alternative Tentacles, 1992)

With Noël Akchoté

• Lust Corner (Winter & Winter, 1997)

With John Zorn

• In Memory of Nikki Arane (Incus, 1996)

• Dreamory (2013 – The House of Chadula): a 1000+-page book that is a collection of Chadbourne's diaries ranging from his teenage years to his tours and including his dream diaries