The Savage Young Taterbug – ‘Ragman Transmissions Volume 1’ CS $8
For many years now the Savage Young Taterbug has wandered America’s hinterlands, bewitching drugstore clerks and gas station attendants with his balladry. “Ragman Transmissions” cobbles together songs he raw-dogged on the road, left in the tape decks of friends and fellow freaks, and abandoned or simply forgot about. A few songs carry on his signature swirl of transistor static and scarecrow spirituals. Others catch him in private, tinkling on the piano and crooning deliciously. Still others are bona fide studio slammers buoyed by thick licks and harmonies. Who knows how many Taterbug tracks still lurk out there, like old jellybeans wedged between cushions. Volume one is our humble effort to round some up and savor their strange flavors.