Vic has somehow turned pronunciation into an instrument, John J. His expressive, raw vocal style featured a prominent southern accent. In his music, he was also frank about his own problems, including suicide, which he had attempted several times. Athens singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt was at the forefront of the contemporary folk rock movement in America. Chesnutt was an outspoken critic of the health care system, saying in his recent interview on “Fresh Air” that operations had left him deeply in debt. His survivors include his wife, Tina Whatley Chesnutt a sister, Lorinda Crane and nine nieces and nephews. and others for “Sweet Relief II: The Gravity of the Situation,” an album that benefited the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, a nonprofit group that offers musicians medical support. Stipe.Ī documentary, “ Speed Racer: Welcome to the World of Vic Chesnutt,” was released in 1993, and in 1996 his songs were performed by Madonna, the Indigo Girls, Smashing Pumpkins, R.E.M. He was injured in 1983, while driving drunk, he later said, and shortly thereafter moved to Athens and became a regular at the 40 Watt Club, where he was seen by Mr. his grandfather gave him guitar lessons, having him transpose “Sweet Georgia Brown” into every key in the scale. 12, 1964, James Victor Chesnutt was adopted and grew up in Zebulon, Ga. “I’m not an optimist/I’m not a realist/I might be a sub-realist,” he sang on his 1996 album “About to Choke.”īorn in Jacksonville, Fla., on Nov.

The constant in his career was a keen poetic intelligence that could be sardonic or unsparingly confessional.

Vic chesnutt grave