VIC Chesnutt was a paraplegic singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia, who performed with a guitar in a wheelchair. He often sang of death and passed away at the age of 45 on Christmas Day 2009 after a coma induced by an overdose of muscle relaxants.
Apparently he hadn’t been able to pay his medical bills. He left a note, a fan club led by REM’s Michael Stipe and Madonna and 13 studio albums. Now Canada’s veteran Cowboy Junkies release his Demons on the second instalment of their four-part Nomad Series.
“Exploring his songs and delving deeper and deeper into them has been an intense, moving and joyous experience,” says the Junkies’ Michael Timmins. “I don’t think Vic would have wanted it any other way.”
Certainly this labour of love, with its slow grace and beauty, and Margot Timmins’s wondrously melancholic voice, should bring overdue attention to Vic, hopefully leading you to discover the old Chesnutts.
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