It’s all about the mundane, the audacious, the bizarre, the mysterious. Thus the words and music I’ve forged over the years, and present here in this website. With all gusto I’ve attempted to explore and embrace possibilities, confusions, certainties, the mystical, the magical.
Many of the audio recordings are sonically rough around the edges because they weren’t professionally recorded and produced. I financed and engineered these recordings myself. Like any artist, I hope these works have merit beyond their value to me, and bring enjoyment to you, my audience.
These recordings were born in closets, bedrooms, boats, warehouses, and primitive apartment and home studios. Some pieces contain ambient sounds recorded in myriad locations afield. Some recordings were tinkered with in a professional recording studio, Nomad Studio in Daphne, Alabama. On some songs I play all the instruments and do all the singing. In other songs cherished collaborators sing, play guitar, or play drums and percussion.
The oldest recording is “Pastry Blues”, recorded in 1978 in Missoula, Montana. The newest recording is “All Made Equal”, recorded in 2021 in Maplewood, Minnesota.
The wonder, awe, and horror I felt as a child remains to this day when pondering our world and its ways and riddles. My job as an artist is simply to mine the universe of whatever treasure I can imagine and access. And to maintain as pure as possible artistic focus, all the while having loads of fun and enjoyment. There are diverse voices speaking in these works, and many of the ideas and scenarios explored may be provocative and unsettling to some. We inhabit a complex and subtly fashioned world. To my eyes, there’s boundless mystery in every sunrise and fork in the road. A prudent traveler learns the lay of the land and questions all before him.
As for works written in collaboration with other poets and lyricists, I was encouraged to take a completely different tack creatively. It’s there I unearthed new treasure. A wholly unique set of psychic and artistic challenges. I’m humbled and filled with gratitude for those opportunities. All in all, what a satisfying and dusty road traveled.
The path exists, but it’s anyone’s guess where it goes.
CP Butchvarov
Elephant Butte, New Mexico
2023
