I've always found Victoria Williams's music and personality to be very endearing. Affectionately called an eternal child, it's almost hard not to sort of fall for her eccentric southern charm and disarming candor. Once asked why she would write a song entitled "You R Loved," Williams replied, very simply, "why not?"
Rolling Stone described her more aptly and succinctly than I could hope to at the moment: "The trouble with most hippie eccentrics is that they ain't all that eccentric. Like punks or hip-hoppers or stalwarts of any other subculture, they gravitate toward norms of belief, dress, and cant. But Victoria Williams is her own weird, wonderful woman, with an adventurous warble and a goofball sense of humor that mark her as an original. She's a dear heart whose music feels spontaneous at its most elaborate and orchestrated, and who sounds as though she sings primarily to amuse herself without ever seeming self-absorbed."
When Victoria Williams was diagnosed with MS, an organization was formed to help the uninsured singer/songwriter with her considerable medical bills. A benefit album, Sweet Relief, was released, a collection of covers by such artists as Pearl Jam, Buffalo Tom, Lou Reed, Michelle Shocked, and Giant Sand. They later released a second album, Sweet Relief II: The Gravity of the Situation, for Vic Chesnutt. I'd highly recommend picking up copies of both Sweet Relief albums (if for no other reason than the beautiful and unique covers -- but a decent cause, too).
From Rolling Stone: "'I'm not an optimist/I'm not a realist/I might be a subrealist,' sings Vic Chesnutt on About to Choke's 'Myrtle,' a darkly comic, self-effacing riddle in a career filled with dark comedy, self-deprecation, and poetic riddles. Chesnutt, who was confined to a wheelchair after a car crash at age 18, has been one of the most prolific and enigmatic songwriters of his generation, writing in a simple style that nonetheless communicates immediate sensitivity and pain. His best songs capture, in the same breath, hope and disappointment, escape and self-destruction, love and pity --stories without a plot so much as a 'subrealist' attention to detail."
I've been thinking about both artists lately, southern raconteurs (Williams' original home was Louisiana, and Chesnutt hails from Georgia), each with their own very strong, distinctive voice. But when they recorded "God Is Good" together, the result was something of grace and simple eloquence, their unique styles sweet and complementary. I'll revisit both artists with a post of their own (as they deserve) in the future, but for the moment I wanted to post some of their music, in large part because I, very simply, could use a dose of the soulfulness and purity that comes through these songs. Prost!
- Victoria Williams tracks -
With Christopher Rees
Bottom Dollar
The Rolling Creekdippers: In My Hour of Darkness (from Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons)
Pearl Jam
Crazy Mary (Live - Victoria Williams cover)
Can't Cry Hard Enough
Train Song (Demise of the Caboose)
The Puppy Song (Harry Nilsson cover)
The Original Harmony Ridge Creek Dippers
She Picks The Violets
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
- Vic Chesnutt tracks -
And Now
Buckets of Rain (Dylan cover)
Fodder On Her Wings
Mystery
Stay Inside
Teddy Bear
Over
Liz Durrett: Somewhere (from West Side Story, duet with Vic Chesnutt)
Warm (from North Star Deserter)
Streaming previews of North Star Deserter
Victoria Williams & Vic Chesnutt
God Is Good
"As the sun goes down
Across the land
Mother earth meets father time
And takes his hand
One is all and all is one again
Can we be good friends
Can we be good
Can we be
Can we
Can
If you have friends in glory land
Who left because of pain
Thank God up there they'll die no more
They'll suffer not again"
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