Vic Chesnutt remains one of my favorite singer songwriters. His first four albums for the Texas Hotel label in the early 90's are nothing short of incredible. Little, West Of Rome, Drunk and Is The Actor Happy? stack up there among the greats. Twisted lyrics. Brilliant revealing songs. Interesting character studies. And a song called Lucinda Williams that served as an introduction to her for many of Vic's fans, including myself. There are worlds to discover in Vic's music. Especially on those early records.
Shortly before Vic released his Capital records debut, About To Choke, he became the subject of the Sweet Relief charity album which works to provide health insurance benefits to uninsured musicians. It gave him short term exposure to the alternative rock scene. But is was brief. It's hard to put a label on Vic, and he's not exactly radio friendly. He's occasionally alt-country, but I cringe at calling him that. Sometimes he's acoustic, but not always. Really, what do you call a man who is known to play trumpet with his mouth with no trumpet in sight? Eclectic? For sure. But if we're talking music labels, singer-songwriter is the only one that really fits.
After About To Choke, Vic came out with The Salesman And Bernadette, an album he recorded with Lambchop, and which to this day remains one his most underrated albums. Promos came out on Capital, but the actual record was postponed and eventually released on Capricorn. Since that time Vic has released several albums on various independent labels with a vast array of collaborators and producers. Van Dyke Parks. Bill Friswell. And now Elf Power.
I didn't expect much from Dark Developments. My expectations for new Vic albums has been tempered a bit. It's not that North Star Deserter, Ghetto Bells and Silver Lake aren't good albums. They're probably great, and I really need to go back and listen to them. They just don't sound much like those classic first four albums I've come to appreciate. Neither does Dark Developements, but this album is quite good, and is sounding even better to me after the show I saw at the 400 Bar. Elf Power were the perfect band to be backing him up at the show, providing a muscular foundation to allow Vic strum his guitar frantically and wail like and old bluesman. But the best part of the show came during the encore. Two songs from Little. A song from The Salesman and Bernadette and a new dig at George W. Bush called "Legacy."
Catch him on this tour.
Setlist:
Mystery
Little Fucker
And How
Teddy Bear
We Are Mean
Stop the Horse
Bilocating Dog
The Mad Passion of the Stoic
Phil the Fiddler
Old Hotel
Independence Day
Rabbit Box
Legacy
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