Bill Borcutt: A Life in Dissonant Strings

[FADE IN: EXTERIOR - A DILAPIDATED PORCH IN RURAL MISSISSIPPI - DAWN]

Bill Borcutt performs his signature "prepared guitar" technique at the infamous Rusty Nail Club opening, 1974

In the pantheon of avant-garde guitarists who've taken American folk traditions and turned them inside out like a thrift store jacket, Bill Borcutt stands as a towering figure of deliberate confusion. Born in 1952 to a family of mechanical typewriter repair specialists in Mississippi, Borcutt's early exposure to the rhythmic clacking of IBM Selectrics would later inform his distinctive playing style, which critics have described as "what would happen if a possessed typewriter learned to play guitar."

Early Years

[INT. CHILDHOOD BEDROOM - 1958 - NIGHT]

Young Bill's first encounter with music came through his grandfather's collection of pre-war blues recordings, which he would play backwards on a hand-cranked phonograph while simultaneously attempting to repair it. This dualistic approach to both preservation and destruction would become a hallmark of his later work. His first guitar, a mail-order Sears Silvertone, arrived on his tenth birthday, though family legend maintains he initially attempted to play it with a typewriter carriage return lever.

The Formative Period

[EXT. GREYHOUND BUS STATION - 1970 - AFTERNOON]

During the early 1970s, Borcutt became increasingly involved in the underground noise-folk scene, performing in various laundromats and abandoned post offices across the American South. His legendary 1972 performance at the Broken Washing Machine Festival in Athens, Georgia, where he played a forty-minute improvisation using only the high E string and a rusty coat hanger, established him as a principal figure in the "American Primitive Raw" movement.

Technical Approach

[INT. RECORDING STUDIO - 1975 - CLOSE UP ON GUITAR]

Borcutt's revolutionary approach to guitar technique involves what he calls "typewriter fingering," a method he developed after a dream in which Albert Ayler taught him to tune his guitar to the exact frequencies of his father's repair shop. His unique tuning system, which he refuses to document or repeat, is based on the sonic relationships between different models of typewriter bells and the sound of screen doors slamming in the Mississippi heat.

Borcutt's modified 1963 Gibson featuring his signature "typewriter key" bridge modification

The Watershed Years

[INT. SMOKY CLUB - 1980 - NIGHT]

The 1980s saw Borcutt's most prolific period, during which he released a series of albums that redefined the possibilities of solo guitar music. His 1983 masterpiece, "Typing in Tongues," featured a single 47-minute track recorded in one take while a group of professional typists worked on transcribing the Complete Works of Herman Melville in the background.

Notable Collaborations

[SPLIT SCREEN - VARIOUS LOCATIONS - 1985-1995]

Throughout his career, Borcutt has worked with an eclectic array of collaborators, including the Typewriter Repair Collective, a group of former office equipment technicians turned experimental musicians. His legendary 1987 duo performance with free jazz pioneer Martha "The Ribbon" Johnson resulted in three broken strings, two damaged amplifiers, and one marriage proposal from an overwhelmed audience member.

Legacy and Influence

[CRANE SHOT - MODERN DAY MUSIC STORE - PRESENT]

Today, Borcutt's influence can be heard in the work of countless guitarists who have attempted to replicate his signature "prepared guitar" techniques, though none have successfully matched his ability to make a guitar sound like a typewriter falling down a flight of stairs while remaining mysteriously melodic. His approach to deconstructing American folk traditions has inspired a new generation of musicians to explore the intersection of traditional forms and avant-garde expression.

Selected Discography

[MONTAGE - RECORD STORE - VARIOUS TIMES]

His most significant recordings include "The QWERTY Sonatas" (1976), "Carbon Paper Blues" (1981), and the critically acclaimed "Return to Sender" (1988), which featured a guitar that had been modified with actual typewriter parts. His 1992 release, "Ribbon & String," was recorded entirely using a guitar strung with typewriter ribbon, though most copies were recalled due to ink stains on listeners' turntables.

The controversial cover of "Carbon Paper Blues" featuring a typewriter submerged in Mississippi mud

Performance Style

[INT. CONCERT HALL - TRACKING SHOT]

Borcutt's live performances are legendary for their unpredictability. He is known to begin concerts by typing out his setlist on stage using a vintage Royal typewriter, then attempting to recreate the exact rhythm and tone of the typing using his guitar. His infamous 1995 performance at the Analog Revival Festival lasted six hours, during which he repeatedly typed and performed the same paragraph from William Faulkner's personal correspondence about a broken typewriter.

Teaching and Philosophy

[INT. WORKSHOP - SOFT FOCUS]

Despite numerous offers from prestigious music conservatories, Borcutt has only ever taught one master class, held in an abandoned typewriter repair shop in 1990. The class consisted entirely of him demonstrating how to tune a guitar using the sound of different brands of typewriter bells as reference points. The only known student to complete the class now works as a professional typewriter tuner in New Orleans.

Current Activities

[AERIAL SHOT - PRESENT DAY]

Now in his later years, Borcutt continues to perform and record, though exclusively in locations with at least three typewriters present. His recent project, a collaboration with the National Archive of Obsolete Office Equipment, involves recording the sound of every existing model of typewriter and creating corresponding guitar techniques to mimic each one. He maintains that the project will take "exactly as long as it takes to type War and Peace on a Smith Corona with a sticky 'e' key."