Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down is a western that spans some three centuries of history and references locations from across the United States landscape.
[3] Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down jumps into the narrative of the main protagonist, Loop Garoo, a black, silver tongued, circus cowboy, who represents the devil to the white men.
As Drag deals with the problems from a deteriorating city, Loop Garoo is saved from being eaten by wild animals by Chief Showcase, a Native American who fights his oppressors through suave and underhanded means.
He combats the imperialism and monopolistic greed of Drag Gibson and organized religion, casting spells and summoning Loa to assist him.
Loop Garoo is the apocryphal brother of Jesus Christ, the love interest of the Virgin Mary, and the high priest of Neohoodooism.
Drag Gibson is an influential landowner who represents the impact of white culture on the West, the rapacious greed of land capitalists, and the rigidity of Judeo-Christian values.
Reed portrays Showcase as spiritual and advanced - he travels in a helicopter that confuses and terrifies his provincial white adversaries.
In contrast to the Black Cougar Saloon's Hurdy Gurdy girls and Drag's previous wife, The Horrible Hybrid, Mustache Sal displays independence, intelligence, and open-mindedness.
She doesn't discriminate racially in her personal associations, consorting with Loop Garoo, the ranch hands, and Chief Showcase alike.
Field Marshal Theda Doompussy Blackwell is a member of the U.S. military brass who schemes with Chief Showcase to take control of Drag Gibson's land.
Reed portrays the Field Marshal as weak, petulant, and possibly homosexual, poking fun at the typically virile stereotype of the military man.
The religious side of Neohoodooism has its roots in the African-American folk magic of Hoodoo, which Reed claims is based on the West African religion of Vodoun.
The Loop Garoo Kid, high priest of Neohoodooism, lashes the crucifix off Reverend Boyd's neck with a bullwhip, and Pope Innocent, leader of the Catholic Church, kills him with a can of insecticide.
Hardin symbolizes the racist tendencies of the Old West; he sees African Americans as the devil incarnate and slaughters them without mercy.
The Loop Garoo Kid responds to Drag's violence by calling on a diverse array of resources, unleashing the power of nature and the innumerable hexes and spells of the Hoodoo religion on Gibson and his cronies.
Reed argues that the transparent violence employed by white society is no match for the diversity and adaptability of African-American religion and culture.
Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down was received with varied criticisms: "Neil Schmitz, in an essay on Reed's fiction in Twentieth Century Literature (April 1974), judged Yellow Back Radio "to exhibit a 'simplistic' focus and 'diffused' energy, although many readers found it to be a comic tour de force.
"[3] Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down has been cited as an important precursor or model for the 1974 satirical Western film Blazing Saddles, a connection that Reed himself has made.