For some background on Shooby Taylor, the "Human Horn," who died in 2003, go here or here. Taylor, whose oeuvre consists of frenetic scatting over preexisting recordings, had a brief, failed attempt at a career in the '80s (he was booed off the stage at the Apollo Theater's Amateur Night), but has gained a cult fame in recent years thanks to the inclusion of one of his tracks on "outsider music" obsessive Irwin Chusid's "Songs in the Key of Z" compilation. There's a large collection of Shooby MP3s for free download here (including a truly hilarious rendition of "Folsom Prison Blues"), and while the whole endeavor is patently absurd, there's also a real pathos to some of these tracks, a moving collision of stubborn ebullience and desperation. Try "Over the Rainbow" and "Just a Closer Walk With Thee."
-- T.B.
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