Singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt died on Dec. 25 of an apparent drug overdose/suicide. Crippled by a car accident since he was 18, Chesnutt advocated the use of medical marijuana. But he lived in a state (Georgia) that doesn't allow patients to medicate with pot. And so sadly he ended his life with the help of muscle relaxants. Chesnutt was 45.
I met Vic in the mid-'90s when his career was on the rise. He had been discovered by Michael Stipe, who produced his first album Little in 1990.
In 1995, Capricorn Records released the Widespread Panic-Chesnutt collaboration known as Brute (Nine HIgh Pallet) as well as Hempilation: Freedom Is NORML, a 17-track benefit compilation. I created the Hempilation concept and co-produced the album. It did so well (125,000 copies sold), we decided to go ahead with the sequel, Hempilation 2: Free the Weed.
The same year it came out (1998), Chesnutt had his first solo release on Capricorn, The Salesman and Bernadette.
Philip Walden, my main partner at Capricorn on these albums, recalls meeting Vic in Athens "through the Panic guys. We put out the Brute album and the his album with Lambchop (The Salesman and Bernadette). If you haven't spent any time with these albums - or any of his music for that matter - you owe it to yourself to check it out. I recommend 'Until the Led' from Salesman as a starting point."
Walden, who's father Phil founded Capricorn, recommended Vic contribute a song for Hempilation 2. He told me about Vic's condition and advocacy. At one of his shows in New York, Vic confirmed this as we smoked a joint.
"I do use it for pain management, sometimes, after I've had surgery, or for nausea control," Vic said about pot a few months ago. "But really, I love it. It's a beautiful thing. Human beings have been doing it for thousands of years."
Bands were asked to either cover a marijuana-themed song or submit an original for the albums. Vic went into the studio and record an a little number called "Weed (to the Rescue)." It begins with the line, "Moses came down from the mountain with a big, fat sack" and has the simple title chorus, repeated in falsetto. Listen here:
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"All of my songs are touched by weed," he said, "whether I'm playing them stoned, sitting around thinking about them stoned. They're all edited by weed. It's a useful tool for writers."
Vic kept busy this decade and had three releases in 2009 alone. (At the Cut on the Constellation label was his final album.)
Despite his love of marijuana, he was on steady diet of pharmaceuticals (and also reportedly owed $35,000 in hospital bills even though he had medical coverage).
"My doctors prescribe drugs to me all the time," Vic said in 1998. "These muscle relaxers cost a lot of money and they don't work the same [as marijuana]. There's no other prescription drug I know that would help me feel. I don't want to have anything to do with the Mafia, and if it was legal I could have a small little plant in my backyard and not have to deal with it.
"I want everything switched. I just can't understand that they feel it's so evil. Even beyond my medical reasons, I think for everyone else and for the country's sake that the time has come to change the laws."
Please send donations to help Vic Chesnutt's family here
I see Vic Chesnutt, I see talent, pain, struggle, and success. I look at Justin Bieber, I see a spoiled little boy who had it easy. I see that boy "writing" songs purely for the money, fame and girls. I nearly vomit when I realize what music has become.
