For such a poetic lyricist, singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt can beawkward with words. He speaks in a warm Southern accent, and iscourteous and eager to please. Yet at the same time, he's inexplicably at a loss to articulate his appeal. After a long pause, he chuckles and offers, "Some people just seem to like my music."

To say the least. Ever since a drunken car wreck at age 18 left him a paraplegic, Chesnutt has focused his energies on his songwriting. Indeed, his cathartic, haunting ballads attracted the attention of fellow Athens, Ga. resident Michael Stipe, who produced Chesnutt's first album, "Little."

Chesnutt's first four albums, released on the small indie Texas Hotellabel, have all been met with critical raves, if not mainstream acceptance. Along the way, however, he developed a cult-like following among his peers, many of whom gush about his song writing at any opportunity. High-profile acts including Garbage, Live, and Hootie & the Blowfish contributed cover versions of Chesnutt's songs to a benefit album last year for the"Sweet Relief" fund, which raised thousands of dollars for the organization as well as boosting Chesnutt's profile.

For his latest album, titled "About To Choke" Chesnutt has finally made the leap to a major label, signing with Capitol Records. But his acute insights and raw honesty remains very much unchanged. Though clearly uncomfortable with self-promotion, Chesnutt agreed to a recent interview with Rollingstone.com to discuss the new record.

RS.com: Was there a certain irony in calling your major label debut "About to Choke?"

Vic Chesnutt: I was just expressing how I thought that I was going to fail, because I was trying so hard to make a great record. I thought that I was about to choke while I was recording it. Choke, like, I can do it, but I am going to fail on account of over eagerness or whatever, like a baseball player would.

RS.com: Was this an especially difficult record to make?

VC: Oh, well, they are all difficult, it seems like. This one was pretty hard. I just couldn't figure out what exactly it was I wanted to do most of the time. I didn't really have a clear plan or anything. And that was the hardest part about it.

RS.com: Is that different than the way you've worked in the past?

VC: Actually, it is quite a lot like most of the records I have made. Well, some of them, at least. The last record "Is The Actor Happy" was a lot easier because it was done with a skiffle group. And we had been playing all of the songs on tour. But on this one, I wanted not to make the same kind of record, you know? And so, I didn't have it all worked out. I had to poke around and try to figure out what I do that is different than other people, or what I do that makes me who I am. I'm not making any sense, am I?

RS.com: Sure you are -- and I think the record conveys what you're talking about. One of the songs that does that best is "Threads."

VC: That is the kind of song that is just about growing older and decaying. That is a song about decay. Simple as that. It talks about "I am beginning to crumble like the lawn art that I made." That is all that it is. Now I am middle-aged and I'm falling apart. It is not really an autobiographical song, or anything. I wasn't writing about myself. I wasn't writing in the first person.

RS.com: "Hot Chair," however, seems autobiographical.

VC: Completely. That is straight-up. That is completely autobiographical. When I wrote that song I was thinking about myself and I was singing in first person.

RS.com: Has it been hard to open up like that? Some of the songs in the past have been more abstract.

VC: I always have a tendency to go both ways on that. Some of the songs are completely threadbare, cut to the bone, naked as it gets. And some of them are completely steeped in metaphors and funny little symbols and things like that. I go both ways, always, all my records are like that. It is my two ways with dealing with the act of creating these songs. Completely straight autobiographical songs and then symbolic, funny little abstract, mythological, fictional tales.

RS.com: How does that creative process work for you? Do you have to force yourself to write songs?

VC: I used to try and force it a lot more. Now I have been writing for so long, 20 years. I've got a lot of backlog of songs, I really don't have to force it too much anymore. So now I just wait until I have an intense stomach ache and need to write a song, you know what I mean? And that will do it. I have that luxury. I don't really get up in the morning every day at 7 o'clock like some people and try and bang out songs. I just pick at it here and there, and if it starts to shape up and I think 'Oh, this is going somewhere' then I'll buckle down to it. Right now I am picking at some songs.

RS.com: One of the things that has distinguished your career is a refusal to compromise, either in your imagery or your delivery. Are you comfortable with the term or the concept of "cult favorite?"

VC: Well, I think that simply means not for the masses. And I feel comfortable with that. I'm sure my music isn't for everybody, and I understand that. Mainly it is a selfish process for me. I do it for myself. I write these songs to give me something to sing that I really love to sing. I write these songs for my own kind of intellectual amusement. I will continue to do that forever. It is great when people love my music. But I also understand that I am not going to be Mariah Carey tomorrow, and that is all there is to it.

RS.com: If there's one group that especially loves your music it's your peers. Do you have a favorite cut on the Sweet Relief record?

VC: There are so many. Maybe the Mary Margaret O'Hara could be my favorite. I really worship that version. I worship Mary Margaret, too. And I really love the Kristin Hersh one so much. It was so startlingly beautiful. I love the Garbage song too, "Kick My Ass." They did a stellar version of that. It couldn't be more perfect.

RS.com: It seems like it would be very difficult for other artists to interpret your work because in some ways, your music is so intensely personal.

VC: I have always had trouble thinking about that. I have heard people do my songs in the past. And it is always a little scary. My songs are, if not completely autobiographical, they have a distinct personal smell to it. They all kind of reek of me and my ki