diff --git a/beets/importer.py b/beets/importer.py
index 11823304e..fbb5a19de 100644
--- a/beets/importer.py
+++ b/beets/importer.py
@@ -519,7 +519,7 @@ class ImportTask(object):
         if self.toppath and not os.path.exists(filename):
             util.prune_dirs(os.path.dirname(filename),
                             self.toppath,
-                            clutter=config['clutter'].get(list))
+                            clutter=config['clutter'].as_str_seq())
 
 
 # Full-album pipeline stages.
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 5e8a3cfea..faa1dacf1 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -61,6 +61,8 @@ Little fixes:
   ``embedart`` plugins. Thanks to Chris Cogburn.
 * :doc:`/plugins/ihate`: Fix an error when importing singletons. Thanks to
   Mathijs de Bruin.
+* The :ref:`clutter` option can now be a whitespace-separated list in addition
+  to a YAML list.
 
 
 .. _Acoustic Attributes: http://developer.echonest.com/acoustic-attributes.html