Savage Young Taterbug, the project of Charles Free, a "folksinger" based in Iowa, specialized in lo-fi collages of deranged folk music, some of it recorded in his bedroom and some sampled from obscure ancient records.
The cassette EP River Mortis (American Dream Machine, 2009) contains
two lengthy collages.
If He Was A River And I Was A Duck I'd Swim To The Bottom And Never Come Up
sounds like an extended evening with the
Holy Modal Rounders,
David Peel and
Wild Man Fischer, and all mixed by the
Residents.
On the other hand, the more abstract and warped
Not Know In My Youthful Bloom I'd Be So Close To My Fatal Doom I Do See
sounds like a cryptic transmission from a Moon base.
The cassette EP
Boys Of The Feather (2009) pretends to be structured in 12 songs but it is the same kind of (glorious) mess.
Bury My Heart At The Beach even includes the skipping of a record
and Ohjeeze Oh Gosh Oh Jeeze is simply the endless repetition of a few seconds of "music" like a record that is stuck on the same groove.
Then there's some demented blues jam and the "anthemic" psychedelic lullaby
Spread Your Wings And Take Flight From Your Suffer, a sort of Syd
Barrett broadcasting from a dungeon.
California Sun (2009) contains California Sun
and I Can't Sin So Move Along for a total of 19 minutes (half each).
The latter is the more comically demented of the two.
Little is known of the cassette Dunebuggy (2009).
Syrupy Evenings (2010) contains
the seven-minute collage Slumber Lordy
and the nine-minute collage Bud Keg Nutmeg Cinnamon Sin.
Theme For Gasoline Weirdo (2011) contains two seven-minute collages,
Golden Star Brother Supper (with a comic marching-band song that turns into an Edgar Varese-ian electronic poem that turns into a banjo-driven church hymn etc)
and
Sexuality Butterfly (centered around a swinging ragtime tune).
Journeyman's Cheddar (2013) contains
Disc Jockey Inside a Corona Bottle, a duet with a Spacey Tracy (aka Quincy Quartz).
Shadow Of Marlboro Man (2016) contains one of his most melodic songs,
The Paperstud, somewhere between the
Velvet Underground's first album
and
Soap And Skin.
Charles Free is also active in the duo Dune Buggy with Ryan Garbes (of Wet Hair).
