Deacon Lunchbox

Deacon Lunchbox was the stage name of Atlanta performance artist and poet Timothy Tyson Ruttenber (1950 – April 19, 1992[1]). Ruttenber, a construction worker by day, was popular in the Atlanta area for his flamboyant spoken-word performances. He often punctuated each line of his poems by banging an old torpedo casing or metal bucket with a hammer. His onstage props included a chainsaw, and often a bra was part of his costume.[2]

Deacon is credited with giving the Atlanta alternative country music scene its name - the Redneck Underground. Bubbapalooza, named and led by the late Gregory Dean Smalley, is an annual Redneck Underground festival at Atlanta's Star Community Bar in Little Five Points, a three-night showcase for the Redneck Underground.

Ruttenber died in an auto accident, along with two members of the Atlanta group The Jody Grind (drummer, Rob Clayton, and their bassist, Robert Hayes). The three were riding in a rented cargo van in Montgomery, Alabama, at the time of the accident, when a drunk driver crossed the I-65 median and struck them head-on.

He appeared in Words in Your Face, a PBS documentary about spoken-word performers.