ABOUT
Question Beggar is a musical/video artist living in Fort Worth,Texas. Although he has great difficulty writing about himself in the third person this way, a bulleted lists of important facts can be immediately ascertained:
- Question Beggar is a one-man band, using only his voice, a three-stringed bass and a foot-stomped digital drum.
- Question Beggar writes, arranges and produces all his stuff.
- Question Beggar plays a style of music he calls “Heavy Skiffle.” It’s like skiffle—the subamateur folk-rockabilly hybrid that gave us the Beatles—but heavier, due the classic rock influence and being played entirely on a bass.
- “Question Beggar” is the bandle for the formerly-of-Portland,OR-singer-songwriter, Claxton Kent, who decided that just being himself wasn’t as much fun as being a persona, and definitely harder to market. “Claxton Kent” is the show biz name for Clark Kent (“Claxton” was a family nickname) who needed a better SEO name when he decided to stop being vonHummer and just be himself. “vonHummer” was the singer/songwriter/cable access legend of Portland in the Oughts—see also “The vonHummer Hour”—with tens, if not hundreds, of fans who gradually lost interest over the years, freeing him up to be Claxton Kent, which further freed him up to be Question Beggar.
- Question Beggar does play live, most typically at open mike nights. That's not to rule out full-size gigs, but, post scamdemic, the live scene hasn't quite recovered. It may never. Luckily, in the decade he spent producing the vonHummer cable access series, he easily churns out a steady stream of compelling music videos and live performances, from a 10x12 shed in his backyard. So QB is not straining himself to beat the bushes for shows nobody is going to attend. If they happen, they happen. But really, he has two seasons: recording a new album and playing that album live. If you don't see a lot of promos for shows, he's working on new stuff. Patience, Iago.
- Question Beggar grew up in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, performing in various bands and solo to no effect, cut out for Minneapolis performing in various bands to no effect, and eventually to Portland, solo, with some effect. QB fled Portland in 2016 as part of that town's great artistic diaspora and wound up, happily, in Texas, which secretly has become a wellspring of amazing singersongwriter talent.
- Question Beggar is prolific as hell, having released 7 official albums plus a few more rarities on Bandcamp.com. His YouTube channel has 81 music videos. Only his inability to consistently market his work has kept him, experts believe, from finally garnering the cult following QB deserves.