| Vic Chesnutt | |
|---|---|
Vic Chesnutt performing in 2008 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | James Victor Chesnutt |
| Born | November 12, 1964 Jacksonville, Florida, United States |
| Origin | Athens, Georgia |
| Died | December 25, 2009 (aged 45) Athens, Georgia, United States |
| Genres | Folk rock, Alt-Country |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocal Acoustic guitar |
| Years active | 1985–2009 |
| Labels | Constellation, Texas Hotel, Capitol, PolyGram, Backburner, New West, Orange Twin |
| Associated acts | brute. Elf Power Silver Mt. Zion Sparklehorse Danger Mouse The Undertow Orchestra Widespread Panic |
| Website | vicchesnutt.com |
James Victor "Vic" Chesnutt (November 12, 1964 – December 25, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia. His first album, Little, was released in 1990,[1] but his breakthrough to commercial success didn't come until 1996 with the release of Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation, a tribute album of mainstream artists covering his songs.[2]
Chesnutt released seventeen albums during his career, including two produced by Michael Stipe, and a 1996 release on Capitol Records, About to Choke. His musical style has been described by Bryan Carroll of allmusic.com as a "skewed, refracted version of Americana that is haunting, funny, poignant, and occasionally mystical, usually all at once".[3]
Injuries from a 1983 car accident left him partially paralyzed; he used a wheelchair and had limited use of his hands.
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An adoptee, Chesnutt was raised in Zebulon, Georgia, where he first started writing songs at the age of five. At 18, a car accident left him partially paralyzed; in a December 1, 2009 interview with Terry Gross on her NPR show Fresh Air, he said he was "a quadriplegic from [his] neck down", and although he had feeling and some movement in his body, he could not walk "functionally" and that, although he realized shortly afterward that he could still play guitar, he could only play simple chords.[4] After his recovery he left Zebulon and moved to Nashville, Tennessee; the poetry he read there (by Stevie Smith, Walt Whitman, Wallace Stevens, W. H. Auden, Stephen Crane, and Emily Dickinson) served to inspire and influence him.[5]
When he was 13, Chesnutt declared that he was an atheist, a position that he maintained for the rest of his life.[4]
On December 25, 2009, Chesnutt died from an overdose of muscle relaxants that had left him in a coma in an Athens hospital.[2] In the 2009 interview with Terry Gross, while discussing the song "Flirted with You All My Life", he said, "You know, I've attempted suicide three or four times. It didn't take."[4]
Around 1985, Chesnutt moved to Athens and joined the band, La-Di-Das, with future member of the Dashboard Saviors Todd McBride.[5][6] After leaving that group, he began performing solo on a regular basis at the 40 Watt Club; it was there that he was spotted by Michael Stipe of R.E.M.. Stipe went on to produce Chesnutt's first two albums, Little (1990) and West of Rome (1991).[5]
In 1993, Chesnutt was the subject of filmmaker Peter Sillen's independently produced documentary, Speed Racer: Welcome to the World of Vic Chesnutt, which was shown on PBS. Chesnutt also had a small role as "Terence" in the 1996 Billy Bob Thornton movie Sling Blade, which he later described self-mockingly as a poor performance.[6]
In 1996, Chesnutt was exposed to a wider audience with the release of the tribute album Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation, the proceeds from which went to the Sweet Relief Fund. The album consisted of Chesnutt covers by famous musicians including Cracker, Garbage, The Smashing Pumpkins (with Red Red Meat), Madonna, R.E.M., Soul Asylum, and Live.
He recorded with many other groups and artists. He made two albums with fellow Athens group Widespread Panic, under the name of brute. Chesnutt wrote "Aunt Avis" and co-wrote "Blight", "Protein-Drink/Sewing-Machine", which are often performed live by Widespead Panic.[7][8] "Aunt Avis" appeared on WSP's album Bombs & Butterflies, and Chesnutt made a guest appearance as well.[9] The 1997 video for "Aunt Avis" was directed by Billy Bob Thornton and featured Chesnutt.[9]
After getting to know engineer Scott Stuckey during the recording of West of Rome,[10] Stuckey and Chesnutt became close friends and would go on to collaborate on various projects including, producing two more albums together,[11][12] co-writing "Weed to the Rescue" for the Hempilation album,[13] as well as working on numerous videos including "Ladle" for Capitol Records. At the time of his death, Chesnutt and Stuckey were working on a documentary about Chesnutt's music. The film is tentatively titled, "Degenerate" and should be out some time in 2012.[14]
Chesnutt's 1998 album The Salesman and Bernadette was recorded with alt-country group Lambchop as the backing band. The album Merriment was a collaborative effort between Chesnutt and Kelly and Nikki Keneipp, with Chesnutt writing and singing the songs, and the Keneipps playing the music.
The 2005 album Ghetto Bells featured famed guitarist Bill Frisell, whom Chesnutt met in 2004 at the Century of Song concert series at the German festival RuhrTriennale. Ghetto Bells also featured lyricist and composer Van Dyke Parks on accordion and keyboards. Chesnutt's wife, Tina, would frequently play bass on his albums, including Ghetto Bells. His niece, and fellow songwriter, Liz Durrett also appeared on the album.
In the winter of 2006, he recorded North Star Deserter at the Hotel2Tango in Montreal. It was released on September 11, 2007 by Constellation Records. The record included contributions from Constellation artists Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, as well as Fugazi's Guy Picciotto. The album was produced by documentary filmmaker Jem Cohen.[15]
In 2008, Athens, Georgia based Elephant 6 collective recording artists Elf Power collaborated with Chesnutt on the album Dark Developments, released as Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power, and the Amorphous Strums. The "amorphous strums" refers to Curtiss Pernice and Sam Mixon, who also played on the album.[16]
In 2009, Chesnutt worked with many of the same contributors to the album North Star Deserter to release the album "At the Cut" in September. Also, Like with North Star Deserter the album was recorded in Montreal and released on Constellation Records.[17] Later in 2009, Vic recorded the album titled "Skitter on Take-off" with Jonathan Richman which was inspired by the two albums recorded in Montreal and was released on Vapour.[18]
In 2009, he sang on the track "Grim Augury" on from the album Dark Night of the Soul by Danger Mouse of Gnarls Barkley, Sparklehorse, and director David Lynch.
Chesnutt's first four albums were released on the independent Texas Hotel label. He then recorded About to Choke (1996) for Capitol Records. The Salesman and Bernadette (1998) was on PolyGram; Merriment (2000) was on the Backburner Records label; spinART was the label for the self-performed and recorded Left to His Own Devices (2001). Chesnutt then found a home at the New West Records label, which released two of his albums. In 2004, New West also re-released the early Texas Hotel recordings, including expanded liner notes and extra tracks.
Chesnutt was also a supporter of medical marijuana,[19] which he said helped with his medical problems. He contributed the track "Weed to the Rescue" to the 1998 Hempilation II charity album, with proceeds going to NORML, an American organization dedicated to marijuana legalization.
He also appeared as a guest musician on Cowboy Junkies' 2007 album Trinity Revisited, a 20th anniversary edition of their classic album The Trinity Session. In 2011 Cowboy Junkies released Demons, an album of eleven Chesnutt covers.
With brute.