Cody Chesnutt doesn’t beat around the bush; he lets you
know he looks good in leather.
“You put the leather jacket on and the collar up and you
feel invincible,” said Chesnutt, a singer-songwriter and
multi-instrumentalist. “I looked in the mirror and had one of
those moments where I tapped into something and I wrote the song
(“Look Good in Leather”) in 15 minutes and recorded a
little piece of American history.”
“Look Good in Leather” is one of the standout tracks
from Chesnutt’s recent release, the double album “The
Headphone Masterpiece.” Chesnutt is bringing his guitar, his
voice and possibly a backing band (he wasn’t sure if it would
be able to make it) to perform songs from “Masterpiece”
at noon in Westwood Plaza today.
Recorded in Chesnutt’s apartment bedroom, the production
value of “Masterpiece” is different. Unlike recording
studios where artists attempt to filter out every sound for a
perfectly clean mix, Chesnutt intended to catch the flow of life
through his apartment. So if you hear the sound of his roommates
closing doors, that’s not a mistake.
The double album spans 36 songs all of which Chesnutt holds
equal in his esteem. The songs range in subject matter from the
blatantly sexual to the spiritual, but to Chesnutt, it’s all
part of the same experience.
“There really is no two different messages, it’s
just human,” Chesnutt said. “There is no separation and
when people try to make one, that’s when they get tripped
up.”
Chesnutt speaks philosophically about music and his record. He
breaks things down to a more literal level where they are what they
are. When he started recording “Masterpiece,” he
didn’t think of it in terms of a double album, that’s
just what it naturally became.
According to Chesnutt, the album should take you to a place in
your imagination connected to the human experience, because
that’s what music does. The songs he plays in his live sets
are chosen because those are what he feels like playing at the
moment. It’s all positive, and it’s all about the
music.
“You have to abandon the flesh and let the music take
over,” Chesnutt said.
On stage Chesnutt riffs with the audience, moving around, though
not excessively. He has a look that’s as much classic rock
and soul as anything else, but with a fresher edge than someone
like Lenny Kravitz. His vocals have a yearning quality, which evoke
the longing for common human experience he talks about so avidly.
But Chesnutt likes to say there are no magic tricks to what
he’s doing. He may look good in leather, he may be able to
sing and write songs, but it’s just his way and he wants to
inspire people to find theirs.
“There’s nothing about it, just me and my guitar and
meeting new people,” Chesnutt said. “I just share my
spirit with the people standing before me and the people they stand
with. I hope they’re just ready to see another
human.”