Vic Chesnutt is a very unique, peculiar personality and songwriter who shares the company of folks like Kristin Hersh, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Victoria Williams, Howe Gelb, and Benjamin Smoke. He's a charter member of that pantheon of brilliant songwriters and performers who are all defined by singularity, but are not ruled by quirk and never allow themselves to fall into self-parody. All play a skewed, refracted version of Americana that is haunting, funny, poignant, and occasionally mystical, usually all at once. West of Rome is a spare, skeletal record that's inhabited by all of the aforementioned qualities, is beautiful in its simplicity and finds strength in imperfection. Chesnutt's craggy voice, classical guitar, and outrageous imagination are his tools, and his performances were faithfully preserved by Scott Stuckey's resonant living room production. After a few spins, listening to Chesnutt and company sound like they're playing in your living room, the record begins to sound familiar; its nooks and crannies, cracks and crevices start to feel homey and comfortable, like an old house or an old friend. There's a humble magic that West of Rome perpetuates that is ultimately the most enchanting thing about it -- it offers a gentle reminder of things that are far too often taken for granted to those who care to listen
Credits
Tina W. Chesnutt Bass, Photography
Vic Chesnutt Composer, Guitar, Keyboards, Primary Artist, Vocals
Jen Cohen Photography
Jimmy Davidson Photography
Liz Durrett Violin
Kelly Keneipp Guitar
Ray Neal Guest Artist, Guitar
Jeffrey Richards Drums, Guitar
Michael Stipe Guest Artist, Keyboards
Stephen Tesluk Bass
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Vic collaborated with Bob Mould to record a version of Gram Parsons' song, "Hickory Wind", which appeared on the 1993 compilation, Conmemorativo: A Tribute to Gram Parsons.
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" and "Protein-Drink/Sewing-Machine", which are often performed live by Widespread Panic. "Aunt Avis" appeared on WSP's album Bombs & Butterflies, and Chesnutt made a guest appearance as well. The 1997 video for "Aunt Avis" was directed by Billy Bob Thornton and featured Chesnutt.
After getting to know engineer Scott Stuckey during the recording of West of Rome,Stuckey and Chesnutt became close friends and would go on to collaborate on various projects including producing two more albums together, co-writing "Weed to the Rescue" for the Hempilation album, 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, tentatively titled "Degenerate," was scheduled to be released in 2012.
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.
Vic was featured singing on the title track of Elf Power's 2004 release, Walking with the Beggar Boys.
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, Quebec, Canada. 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.
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.
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. As with North Star Deserter, the album was recorded in Montreal and released on Constellation Records. 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 Vapor.
In 2009, he sang on the track "Grim Augury" from the album Dark Night of the Soul by Danger Mouse of Gnarls Barkley, Sparklehorse, and director David Lynch. Mark Linkous had previously attempted to collaborate with Chesnutt on previous Sparklehorse albums such as Good Morning Spider however Chesnutt was unable to feature in person on the album. Instead, a recorded voice message he left Linkous apologising for his inability to show was used on the song "Sunshine".
