Eugene Chadbourne has been composing, performing, and writing about music since at least 1975. Among his innovations are creating a musical instrument from a garden rake and arranging and performing Bach, Beefheart, and Zappa compositions on the banjo.
He's collaborated with an astounding number of artists over the years - Camper Van Beethoven, John Zorn, Henry Kaiser, Jimmy Carl Black, etc. In addition to his solo efforts and collaborations, he also led the band Shockabilly in the 80s.
He collaborated with TMBG by providing the phoned-in guitar solo on Absolutely Bill's Mood. He also had a release as part of the Hello CD Of The Month Club and opened for them.