Strange Language

Singer/songwriter Vic Chestnutt died on Christmas. He was 45 and died of a self administered overdose of muscle relaxants. This is not a story of a hedonistic artist drinking and drugging themselves to death. This is a tragedy that played itself out to the slow cadence of his dehumanizing struggle with the American Health Care System.

Vic was paralyzed in a car accident at the age of 18 in 1983, yet went on to become an influential and important song writer who influenced many country and rock artists in America. He won critical acclaim and was admired by artists such as Michael Stipe of REM who admired his darkly humorous songs.

He had limited use of his arms and was confined to a wheel chair, yet was able to record and tour. he had been plagued by many health problems related to his condition and was overwhelmed by the financial problems his status as an independant artist who wasn't a major star brought on...And how many Americans are caught in the same tragedy? Too seemingly succesful for welfare and too poor in reality to afford to pay for a catastrophic medical crisis...Don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, that is the story of my family and how it was destroyed by an out of control health and medical system and this was in the 1960's, before thigs got to be really expensive...My family had insurance, and after my mother died of multiple sclerosis, my father was impoverished and died in debt.
There was no social net for middle class children...people looked the other way...

Chesnutt tackled death and mortality head-on in his lyrics, as in "It Is What It Is," from his new album "At the Cut."

"I don't worship anything, not gods that don't exist / I love my ancestors, but not ritually / I don't need stone altars to hedge my bet against the looming blackness / that is what it is."

In recent interviews he contemplated the challenges he faced as a wheelchair-using paraplegic with inadequate health insurance and mounting medical bills.

"I'm not too eloquent talking about these things," Chesnutt told The Times earlier this month. "I was making payments, but I can't anymore and I really have no idea what I'm going to do. It seems absurd they can charge this much. When I think about all this, it gets me so furious. I could die tomorrow because of other operations I need that I can't afford."