Eugene Clapp is the cleverly, idiotic music comedian who folks around Southern Indiana have been laughing with for years. In fact, it was at their urging that he has finally made available, a CD containing some of his funniest original songs. But his story goes much further back.
Before music comedy and songwriting were a part of his life, Eugene was simply known as the quiet, goofy child often seen down at the feed mill, sitting on bags of cracked corn, picking and eating boogers in a trance- like state.
It wasn't until one fateful day when he was violently kicked in the head by a cow that he discovered he had profound musical talents.
"Before that day, I couldn't say my A, B, C's," Eugene recalls. "I'd get stuck on 'L' every time."
The phenomenon started on his first day home from the hospital. Eugene relates the story saying, "I walked in the door that day and saw my uncle's banjo standing in the corner and I just picked it up and cut down on 'Foggy Mountain Breakdown' and 'Black Mountain Rag' at the same time."
While most of his relatives ran from the house with their palms pressed to their ears, others he remembers, just stared in astonishment as he slobbered, jigged and flogged that banjo with a crazed, "animal" sort of look about his features.
Music comedy followed shortly thereafter, and as Eugene puts it, "If it hadn't been for laughter, music and good humor, I'd have never made it through the accident. It helped in healing my injuries from 'the manure spreader accident' too," he states.
Eugene proudly surmises, "Most people 'round here probably thought I'd never amount to a fart in a whirlwind.....but this here CD proves that I can do more than ride a boar hog with nothin' to hold onto but his ears, or spit tobacca juice nineteen feet on a windy day."
It's clear that Eugene Clapp is eager to share his funny talent with the world. "I just like the sound of laughter," he says. "It's music to my ears!"
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