Vic theater
The cover portrait on Lambchop‘s Mr. M (Merge) is not Vic Chesnutt (Chesnutt, for one, did not own such a hat), and he is not mentioned at anytime during the album. But the songwriter’s death is its centerpiece, and it captures with grace Chesnutt’s difficult but rewarding (for us, at least) existence.
Chesnutt and Lambchop principle Kurt Wagner became fast friends after Lambchop backed the former up on The Salesman And Bernadette (incidentally, the album that got Chesnutt dropped from Capitol), and his death is said to have hit Wagner hard. The resultant Mr. M becomes the most stately and sedate catalog entry since, O.K., their last outing Ohio (OH). But the only other person making mature, widescreen chamber pop this affecting is Robert Hawley, and Lambchop get extra points for not using Roy Orbison as a base. (Tuesday@Lincoln Hall with Darin Gray.)
— Steve Forstneger
Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly
