Vic Chesnutt: The Salesman & Bernadette

With his cryptic lyrics and craggy voice, Vic Chesnutt has long been an ideal candidate for tribute-album treatment, an honor he finally received in the form of 1996's star-packed Sweet Relief II: Gravity Of The Situation. But while it takes time to get used to his wounded vocals, Chesnutt is a lot more than just an exceptional, literate songwriter; his own albums deserve to be heard. The ambitious new The Salesman & Bernadette features a broad range of guest musicians, which is no surprise: It seems like half of Chesnutt's fans are either musicians or rock critics. But The Salesman, like its fine predecessor, 1996's overlooked About To Choke, is all about Chesnutt and his haunted, difficult, compelling songs. Dominated by wounded ballads such as the vulnerable "Bernadette & Her Crowd," the beautifully languid "Maiden" and "Mysterious Tunnel," and the spooky, aired-out "Square Room," the album is instrumentally busy yet never in a burdensome way. For all the occasional dollops of horns and organs and other musical accompaniment, The Salesman sounds as intimate as it would had Chesnutt recorded it in his bedroom a cappella. Obtuse but never self-consciously so, he's one of the great under-appreciated singers of his day. Here's a fine chance to check him out.