Dump Music At Its Finest

Anyone who remembers Charlotta Clutter probably thought that we had heard the last of her–but, like the dust on your knickknacks, Clutter is back, and just about as good as ever.

As dozens of dump aficianados will know, Charlotta Clutter made her first appearance on the dump music scene as a member of the all-girl trio The Dump Belles.  From the beginning, Clutter’s songs stretched the limits of the genre like a trash bag full of coathangers. Also like a trash bag full of coathangers, Clutter’s early work was jam packed with catchy hooks adaptable to all occasions.  Her songs covered a range of emotions all the way from mild disappointment to total despair, as the Belles won the hearts of pickers in swap shops far and wide.

Later, when the Dump Belles merged with the relentlessly raucous Dump Sirs to form the TrashPickers, Charlotta dove even deeper into the dumpster of human experience, hoeing out the darkest corners of dump-picking life; rumor has it that her dabblings in the taboo territory of yard cleanup eventually contributed to the dissolution of that legendary dump supergroup.

With the TrashPickers securely crammed into the closet of her past, Clutter made a clean break, performing for a time under the name Shirley Dee Clutter.  Devoted followers of janitor jam music may be aware of her brief stint on washtub and bucket for the forgettable but unforgivable album “Singin’ and Wringin’ with the Freakishly Neat-Os”– most fans agree that this era of Clutter’s career is best swept under the rug.  It was not long before Charlotta’s old demons and dustbunnies came home to roost and she returned to her rummaging roots.