Eugene Chadbourne

Free jazz/folk singer-guitarist Eugene Chadbourne, who performs at 9 p.m. on Friday at Mahall’s as part of a short Midwestern tour, grew up in Boulder where his mother, a refugee from Nazi Germany, and his father, a French literature professor, encouraged his musical ambitions once got a guitar after seeing the Beatles on TV. “[I got a guitar] not because I liked [the Beatles], but because girls seemed to and prior to that the only way to get girls to like you was being good at sports or beating up other kids, neither of which I excelled at,” says Chadbourne in an email interview. He had a brief "raga banjo" thing in Boulder High School because a music store went under and he got the instrument for “almost nothing.” He continues to play the banjo and plays a mix of jazz, folk and country. (Niesel)