''Little'' is the debut album by
Vic Chesnutt, released in 1990. Produced by
R.E.M. frontman
Michael Stipe, it was Chesnutt's first solo release.
The album was re-released on July 5, 2004, on the New West Records label and included five bonus tracks.
Overview
Deciding to pursue a solo career after the band,
La-Di-Das, broke up, Chesnutt would play solo at the
40 Watt Club
The 40 Watt Club is a music venue in Athens, Georgia. Along with CBGB, the Whisky a Go Go, and selected others, it was instrumental in launching American punk rock and new wave music.
The 40 Watt Club was the primary performance space for numero ...
. It was there that R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe first spotted Chesnutt and helped him to produce his first album. ''Little'' was recorded in one day: October 6, 1988, and the session was produced by Michael Stipe at John Keane's studio in Athens, Georgia. It was released on
Texas Hotel Records in 1990.
Reception
''
Pitchfork Media'' gave ''Little'' an 8.6, stating:
The most elemental of any of Chesnutt's albums, it features just his warbly voice and precarious acoustic guitar, occasionally accompanied by Stipe's keyboard flourishes. As its title suggests, ''Little'' is about Chesnutt's Pike County childhood, a theme he would return to repeatedly as if thumbing worn and creased snapshots found at the bottom of a drawer. "Rabbit Box" begins, "While I was still in elementary school I discovered Daddy's tools," following the songwriter as he builds a rabbit box out of scrap lumber, but only catches a cat and a possum.
Track listing
All songs written by
Vic Chesnutt
#"Isadora Duncan" – 4:37
#"Danny Carlisle" – 2:59
#"Gepetto" – 2:29
#"Bakersfield" – 2:39
#"Mr. Reilly" – 3:23
#"Rabbit Box" – 2:17
#"Speed Racer" – 4:44
#"Soft Picasso" – 3:30
#"Independence Day" – 3:53
#"Stevie Smith" – 2:03
Bonus Tracks on the 2004 CD release on New West Records
#"Bernadette" – 1:29
#"Vernon" – 2:59
#"Acting So Bad" – 2:41
#"Miss Mary" – 1:53
#"Elberton Fair" – 2:35
Track notes
"Stevie Smith" is named after the English poet and novelist
Stevie Smith. It is a musical adaptation of her poem
Not Waving But Drowning
"Not Waving but Drowning" is a poem by the British poet Stevie Smith. It was published in 1957, as part of a collection of the same title.Sternlicht, Sanford V.''Stevie Smith''. Twayne Publishers (1990) p. 63. The most famous of Smith's poems,Ho ...
.
[Little - CD insert (New West Records, 2004).]
Personnel
*
Vic Chesnutt –
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...
,
vocals
*
Michael Stipe –
keyboards,
production
*Moira Nelligan – vocals and
fiddle on "Stevie Smith"
*Heli Willey – vocals on "Stevie Smith"
*Joe Willey –
banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
on "Stevie Smith"
References
{{Authority control
1990 debut albums
Vic Chesnutt albums
New West Records albums
Albums produced by Michael Stipe