Vic Chesnutt

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Vic Chesnutt, February 2008

Vic Chesnutt (born November 12, 1964 in Jacksonville , Florida , † December 25, 2009 in Athens , Georgia ) was an American singer and songwriter .

Life

Chesnutt grew up as an adopted child in Zebulon , Georgia . He wrote his first songs at the age of five. Chesnutt's lower body has been paralyzed since a 1983 traffic accident in which Chesnutt came off the road while drunk. He could only walk with help and was therefore mostly dependent on a wheelchair .

After recovering from his accident, he moved to Athens , Georgia . He no longer felt comfortable in the small-town redneck atmosphere of Zebulon, and in metropolitan Athens he was better able to live out his liberal, atheistic lifestyle as a bohemian . He joined the local band The La Di Das before he began performing regularly solo at the 40 Watt Club , where he was discovered by Michael Stipe from REM . Stipe encouraged him to his first album, the barren Little receive (1990), which on the Independent label Texas Hotel appeared.

In 1991 there was West Of Rome , 1993 Drunk , which, as its name suggests, was recorded essentially while drunk. At the time, Chesnutt was considered to be a major consumer of alcohol and other drugs . Chesnutt supported the legalization of marijuana as a medicine and contributed with the song Weed To The Rescue to the compilation Hempilation II (1998), the proceeds of which will benefit a US organization for the legalization of hashish. Chesnutt's own drug use appeared to have decreased significantly in recent years.

In 1992, the Public Broadcasting Service broadcast a documentary about Vic Chesnutt. In 1996, Chesnutt made a brief guest appearance in Billy Bob Thornton's film Sling Blade .

Is The Actor Happy? appeared as the last album on Texas Hotel (1995). The next few years were marked by frequent changes of record labels . Also in 1995 Trocadero released Nine High A Pallet , a collaboration with Widespread Panic under the band name Brute. About To Choke (1996) was his only album on a major label , Capitol Records , but was distributed in Europe by Rough Trade Records .

In 1996, Columbia Records released Sweet Relief II: Gravity Of The Situation , a tribute and benefit album with covers of Vic Chesnutt songs performed by celebrities such as Garbage , REM , Soul Asylum , Smashing Pumpkins , Madonna , Kristin Hersh and the Indigo Girls . Sweet Relief is an organization that supports musicians in need - especially those with insufficient health insurance.

In 1998 Rough Trade Records released The Salesman And Bernadette , which was recorded together with the alternative country band Lambchop . In 2000, Chesnutt released Merriment on Backburner Records, a collaboration with Kelly and Nikki Keneipp. Left To His Own Devices was released in 2001 by SpinART Records . In 2002, Brute , Co-Balt , re-released it on Widespread Records .

Since 2003 the albums have been released on New West Records , which are distributed in Europe by Blue Rose . New West Records also reissues the early albums with bonus tracks and a more detailed booklet . New releases are 2003 Silver Lake and 2005 Ghetto Bells , on which guitarist Bill Frisell plays. Chesnuttt's wife, Tina Chesnutt, plays electric bass on many of his records .

Chesnutt performed regularly in Germany, for example, he played as a support band Lambchop . The soundtrack to the film Crazy (2000) includes Yesterday, Tomorrow and Today , an adaptation of the song Guilty By Association from the album Is The Actor Happy? (1995). In summer 2004 he could be seen together with Rickie Lee Jones and Bill Frisell at the Ruhrtriennale in the Century of Song series .

He made a contribution to the album Do It Again: A Tribute To Pet Sounds , which was released at the end of 2006 and on which indie artists reinterpreted the classic Beach Boys album. He created the soundtrack for the film by Sebastian Schipper in mid-August , which was released in summer 2009. At the beginning of 2009 he recorded the song "Grim Augury" with Sparklehorse Mark Linkous and DJ Danger Mouse for the album "Dark Night of the Soul", which was only released in July 2010 - four months after Mark Linkous' suicide, seven months after Vic Chesnutts death. Both were close friends.

On the morning of December 25, 2009, various online media reported that Chesnutt initially fell into a coma as a result of a suicide attempt and died a short time later. Shortly thereafter, Chesnutt's record company Constellation Records confirmed that the singer was in a coma and his condition was critical. Chesnutt's death was announced just hours later, the reason given being an overdose of a muscle relaxant .

The Canadian band Cowboy Junkies released two years after his death in their The Nomad Series, the album Demons , which contains only cover versions as a tribute to Chesnutt, who had previously collaborated with the band several times; most recently on their new edition of their legendary The Trinity Sessions , in which u. a. Ryan Adams also participated.

style

Vic Chesnutt's songs are often about depression , but mostly from a humorous and rather defensive perspective. His texts are often eccentric to surreal , which is due to his interest in the most varied forms of poetry . He was an avowed supporter of the British poet Stevie Smith and set two of her poems to music, including the famous Not Waving But Drowning .

Many of Vic Chesnutt's songs are autobiographical , others have a purely fictional background, which has led some reviewers to add fictional stories to Chesnutt's life story. Vic Chesnutt was in a wheelchair during his performances. He did not flirt with his disability, but usually only commented on it casually and rather cynically.

Chesnutt had a distinct Southern - accent , he also used like regional expressions in his lyrics. His own phrasing , in which individual syllables are often drawn unusually long, made him unmistakable.

The influences of folk rock greats like Neil Young and Bob Dylan are unmistakable in his music . Strong country and punk influences can also be identified.

Discography

solo

  • Little (1990)
  • West of Rome (1991)
  • Drunk (1993)
  • Is the Actor Happy? (1995)
  • About to Choke (1996)
  • The Salesman and Bernadette (1998)
  • Merriment (2000)
  • Left to His Own Devices (2001)
  • Silver Lake (2003)
  • Ghetto Bells (2005)
  • Extra Credit EP (2005)
  • North Star Deserter (2007)
  • Mid-end of August EAST (2009)
  • At the Cut (2009)
  • Skitter on Take-Off (2009)

With Widespread Panic under the name Brute

  • Nine High a Pallet (1995)
  • Co-Balt (2002)

With Elf Power and Amporphous Strums

  • Dark Developments (2008)

Movie

  • Speedracer - Welcome to the World of Vic Chesnutt (2003)

literature

swell

  1. ↑ Vic Chesnutt (b.1964). New Georgia Encyclopedia, accessed December 26, 2009 .
  2. ↑ a b Vic Chesnutt, 1964-2009. ORF, December 26, 2009, accessed on December 26, 2009 .
  3. ↑ "Vic is in the middle of a serious medical situation, he is in a coma ..." See article on ORF.at
  4. ↑ Ben Sisario: Vic Chesnutt, Singer, Is in a Coma . The New York Times Blog.
  5. ↑ Ben Sisario: Vic Chesnutt, Singer, Dies . In: The New York Times ArtsBeat Blog .

Web links

Commons : Vic Chesnutt  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Chesnutt, Vic
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH November 12, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Jacksonville , Florida, USA
DATE OF DEATH December 25, 2009
Place of death Athens , Georgia, USA