Vic Chesnutt, 45, dead of overdose

Dec. 25, 2009 4:57 PM PT

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Vic Chesnutt, a singer-songwriter of spare, idiosyncratic folk songs tinged with melancholy, died today in Athens, Ga., of an intentional overdose of prescription muscle relaxants, a family spokesman said. He was 45.

Jem Cohen, a filmmaker and friend who produced the album ‘North Star Deserter,’ said Chesnutt was hospitalized Wednesday morning.

Chesnutt spoke with The Times’ August Brown about his new album ‘At the Cut’ before an appearance at the Echoplex earlier this month. That interview is here.

We’ll have more information later at www.latimes.com/obits.

-- Claire Noland

Afterword

Claire Noland

Claire Noland, who joined the Los Angeles Times in 1994, became editor of curated email newsletters in spring 2015. She had been in the Obituary Department since 2006, the last six years as editor. Before that, she was an editor in Sports. A California native and graduate of Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles, she worked at the Antelope Valley Press, Los Angeles Daily News and Minneapolis Star Tribune. She left The Times in December 2015.

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