I was reading a Spin Magazine in July, which I bought because it had an article on Vic Chesnutt. The photo of the show at Austin at Central Presbyterian Church caught my eye as it said “final show.” “Oh s**t!” I said to myself, as I read about him taking his own life last Christmas Day two weeks after the show. I was supposed to be at that show! I had met Vic in Phoenix when he was on tour with Elf Power in 2007. Vic was in front of the merch booth. He was very humble. It seemed that he was almost unnoticed. I told him I had last seen him in 1996 at SXSW. It was an amazing lineup at the old Ritz Theater on 6th Street. Grandaddy, Giant Sand, Peter Holsapple, Susan Cowsill , Medeski, Martin and Wood, Chris Whitley and Vic to name a few. I promised him the next time I saw him I would have copies of the pictures I took of him. A year or so later Vic emailed me saying he needed some photos to promote an appearance in New York. It was not until after his death that I found out they were published in the New York Times and Boston Globe.
I was doing contract work and away from where my negatives were stored. So, when I saw that he was playing less than two hours away I remembered my promise and did not want to show up and fail to have the promised photos. Thus, I missed that show and was not able to say my farewell to Vic. So, this is my tribute and farewell to a master songwriter whose songs were sad, humorous, dark and brilliant. If you are not familiar with him, among his admirers and collaborators were Widespread Panic, Michael Stipe, Lucinda Williams, Kurt Cobain, Patti Smith, Jonathan Richman, Jeff Mangum(Nuetral Milk Hotel), Bob Mould, Bill Frisell, Van Dyke Parks, Guy Picciotto(Fugazi) and Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous. A tribute/benefit album called Sweet Relief 2 was released with artists such as Garbage, Indigo Girls, Smashing Pumpkins and Madonna doing Vic’s songs. I have gone through the CDs of his I have and put together a must listen list of songs. I hope anyone out there who admired Vic’s work will comment and fill in any great songs I missed or have not heard. I have only half of his sizable body of work.
The List Not In Any Particular Order of Greatness:
1. Sleeping Man
2. Gravity of the Situation
3. Naw
4. Strange Language
5. Wrong Piano
6. Thailand
7. Sad Peter Pan
8. Ladie
9. Degenerate
10. Giant Sands
11. Threads
12. Debriefing
13. Little F_cker
14. Teddy Bear
15. Phil the Fiddler
16. See You Again
17. Drunk
18. Mystery
19. I’m Through
20. Stay Inside
21. Band Camp
22. 2nd Floor
23. When I Ran Off and Left Her
24. Dodge
25. Dick Chaney
26. Worst Friend
27. Little Vacation
28. What Do You Mean
29. Forthright
30. To Be With You
31. Rambunctious Child
32. The Garden
33. Bakersfield
34. Elberton Fair
35. Miss Mary
36. Great Buffet
great pictures, thank you.