The Kellerman–Mudpucket Connection (Rumored, of course)

 

The Kellerman–Mudpucket Connection (Rumored, of course)

*Most people who remember Herbie Mudpucket — and there aren’t many — say he spent the mid‑70s drifting between studios, bowling alleys, and whatever roadside bars would let him plug in his three‑string bass.

Around that same time, a rhythm guitarist named Marty Kellerman was quietly slipping in and out of Pure Prairie League rehearsals, filling in on a few shows, and then disappearing before anyone could write his name down correctly.

There’s a persistent rumor among collectors that Kellerman and Mudpucket actually played together for a brief stretch in ’76, forming a duo called Kellerman & Mudpucket: The Two-Man Highway. No recordings have surfaced, but one engineer swears he saw a tape labeled “Mudpucket/Kellerman – Don’t Touch” in a Nashville storage closet sometime in the late ’80s.

Whether the tape ever existed is anyone’s guess. But if it did, it’s probably sitting in a thrift store bin right now between a polka instructional LP and a Herb Alpert knockoff.

And some people think one of those two men — maybe Kellerman, maybe Mudpucket — might still be around, posting under the name Ralph Rumpelton.*