Biography
Fred Lane serves as the adopted moniker for Tuscaloosa, Alabama resident T.R. Reed, whose work spans vocals, songwriting, and visual art. Reed gained widest recognition through a series of Shimmy Disc releases issued throughout the 1980s. Those albums blend unhinged comedy, spontaneous invention drawn from avant-garde traditions, and stylized nods to earlier popular forms, among them lounge jazz, rockabilly, and country music, all subjected at times to deliberate dismantling.
The 1983 album From the One That Cut You found Lane supported by the large ensemble Ron 'Pate's Debonairs, whose ranks included the Alabama free-improvisation figures Davey Williams and LaDonna Smith, each appearing pseudonymously. The ensemble name itself is invented and alludes to 'Pataphysics, the term introduced by playwright Alfred Jarry. Lane’s next Shimmy Disc outing, Car Radio Jerome, arrived in 1986 and employed a reduced quintet that again featured Williams.
An earlier project, the 1977 Say Day Bew release Raudelunas 'Pataphysical Revue, lists Lane as “Rev Fred Lane” alongside Ron 'Pate's Debonairs. A 1998 Wire feature titled “100 Records that Set the World on Fire” highlighted the recording, which remained unreleased on compact disc through 2001.
The 1983 album From the One That Cut You found Lane supported by the large ensemble Ron 'Pate's Debonairs, whose ranks included the Alabama free-improvisation figures Davey Williams and LaDonna Smith, each appearing pseudonymously. The ensemble name itself is invented and alludes to 'Pataphysics, the term introduced by playwright Alfred Jarry. Lane’s next Shimmy Disc outing, Car Radio Jerome, arrived in 1986 and employed a reduced quintet that again featured Williams.
An earlier project, the 1977 Say Day Bew release Raudelunas 'Pataphysical Revue, lists Lane as “Rev Fred Lane” alongside Ron 'Pate's Debonairs. A 1998 Wire feature titled “100 Records that Set the World on Fire” highlighted the recording, which remained unreleased on compact disc through 2001.
Albums
Singles
