Reagan Mutt is a performance persona devised by sound artist Nathan Marsh. He is premised on the oppressive nature of the white male ego in the popular canon of folk/rock music. The persona takes inspiration from the mythical aura surrounding popular “tortured genius” figures such as Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Tom Waits, among others. Reagan Mutt is simultaneously a tribute to and a caricature of these figures, designed to illustrate the identity politics at play in contemporary popular music and, in doing so, to highlight the significant role that identity plays in determining the music we listen to.
Instagram: @reaganmutt
Bandcamp: https://reaganmutt.bandcamp.com/
“I made my song a coat
Covered with embroideries
Out of old mythologies
From heel to throat;
But the fools caught it,
Wore it in the world’s eyes
As though they’d wrought it.
Song, let them take it,
For there’s more enterprise
In walking naked.”
– W.B. Yeats, A Coat –
Nathan Marsh 