Vic Chesnutt and Victoria Williams Surprise Tour

If there was a couple of artists who you were expecting to see in Australia this year it’s highly unlikely that Vic Chesnutt and Victoria Williams were those artists. Well surprise, surprise they are both touring and what’s even better is that they are touring together as a double bill.

I kinda like the way the press release describes them so I’ll go with that:

Finding inspiration in nature, inanimate objects and things unseen, Victoria Williams has been crafting her unusual brand of country folk music in the wilds of Southern California for nigh on twenty years now. Her songs are gems glowing with California sunshine, settled with desert dust and steeped in the southern sensibilities of her home state of Louisiana, immersing you in vivid pictures of the rural south and have been covered by musicians from all over, from Lou Reed to Lucinda Williams. Since releasing Sings Some Ol’ Songs in 2002, she has been lending her skills to a glorious gaggle of travelling musicians known as The Thriftstore Allstars and touring extensively with kindred spirit M Ward.

Most people don’t see the wonder in dirt and filth, or the humour in the often cruel machinations of the world, but Vic Chesnutt does. He’ll enlighten you in his own language of weathered experience. Hailing from Athens, Georgia, he’s spent much of his career reflecting on the darker corners of life and shining a little light in there with that distinctive, wry creak of a voice, often aided on his amazing albums by a rotating cast of musicians including members of Lambchop, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Fugazi and Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra. Since last year’s brilliant Dark Developments album collaboration with fellow Athenians Elf Power and The Amorphous Strums, he’s taken to the road again touring his particular take on beauty and living.

Both Vic and Victoria have been the subject of high profile tribute albums. Sweet Relief: A Benefit For Victoria Williams was released in 1993 after Victoria was diagnosed with multiple scleroris. Artists who contributed versions of Victoria’s songs included Pearl Jam, Lou Reed, Soul Asylum, Lucinda Williams, Matthew Sweet, Evan Dando, The Jayhawks and more.

It’s an album well worth searching out if you can find it.

This led to the creation of the Sweet Relief Fund, a charity that aids professional musicians (of any stature) in need of health care.

Gravity Of The Situation – The Songs Of Vic Chesnutt, featured tributes from Smashing Pumpkins, Madonna, REM, Garbage, Live and Sparklehorse amongst others.

Tour Dates:

Thursday 9 July, East Brunswick Club Hotel, Brunswick East, Vic
Friday 10 July, The Factory Theatre, Enmore, NSW
Saturday 11 July – The Troubadour, Fortitude Valley, Qld