Vic Chesnut- R.I.P.

I have been meaning to blog about the passing of Mr Chesnutt for a while now, as I was a fan. I had a few of his albums and had seen him half a dozen times, including once with the Undertow Orchestra. While life was never easy for him he seemed a fighter and as long as there was the promise of some weed at the end, he always put on a good show. The Undertow Orchestra gig was special as Mark and Vic and the others all played as each others backing band. The hi light for me was Vic singing "In My Way, Yes" with some beautiful harmonies behind him. As a new recording of them seems to have turned up now seemed a good time hear it again. Enjoy.

"Ten Years of Tears" Review

My copy turned up in the post today, #260 of 500. It is a white CDR with a rubber stamp on the front. It does actually say Vol.2 which implies Mark may have released a Vol.1. If he has then I have missed it. The front cover is a portrait of a small uni-browed child who might possibly be Mark.

So, what does it sound like? It is all good quality recordings. Mainly all originals except for his covers of Joy Divisions "Heart & Soul", Springsteens "My Fathers Place" and a couple of tracks from the solo albums.

It starts with 4 Music Club tracks with the Undertow Orchestra and then jumps back 10 years to a couple of "60 Watt" tracks. Next there is a track from "West". I don't know if that is Pete Buck on guitar is it? Then comes my fave bit, 3 tracks with the band that toured "Invisible Man". They only played one gig in the UK supporting J Mascis and they rocked. Big time. Next come the covers and finally there are 3 of the old classic.

It could easily have been an hour of Mark and his guitar so it is good to hear a nice selections of bands playing on there. At 64 mins they could have stuck some auidence banter on there or possibly a couple more unreleased tracks. Still, worth getting as a document of the man in his prime.

"Ten years of Tears" Available

Marks new live album is available here. It looks like a few tracks from a radio show from around the time of "60 Watt ..." as well as a few tracks with the Undertow Orchestra. That means that half of it will be with a band of some sort and half will be solo strumming. As they say in the Jazz Club, Nice.

Update. Not shipping to North America. You probably want the bands web site for that.

Photos

It seems a few of the users of the photo web site Flickr are fans of Mark as well. Here are a selection of photos of the man himself. What a selection of shirts and hats he has.

Undertow Orchestra

When Mark toured with the Undertow Orchestra they seem to have got quite a bit of publicity.

Glide Magazine have an interview with all the band members.

There is another interview with them and a couple of songs on Minnesota Public Radio.

There is also what looks like a video of a show in Athens, Ga.

There are a coule of YouTube posts but nothing with Mark on it really.
Will

Vic

Will


Finally there are a couple of recordings around. There was a nice piece and a complete show up on (the realllly good) Bradley's Almanac. Unfortunately he has taken the tunes down now but I am sure they are still around somewhere. Further searching shows It's Hard To Find A Friend also has another whole show. I went to the Union Chapel gig which was one of the best shows of last year. Anyone out there have a copy?

Enjoy.