Some musicians are happy to believe their own hype, but Vic Chesnutt isn’t one of them. Over the course of a 20-year career that has seen him perform with everyone from California pop mastermind Van Dyke Parks to southern rockers Widespread Panic, he’s maintained a clear head about his own foibles—and has written some wonderfully self-deprecating songs in the process. So when the singer-guitarist starts to gush about the music he’s been making with his new band—a group that includes Fugazi guitarist Guy Picciotto and members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor—it’s probably a good idea to pay attention.

“You should come to the show, ’cause it’s amazing,” he tells the Straight, reached at home in Athens, Georgia. “It’s truly amazing. I know it’s the best work I’ve ever done, touring with this band.”

Proof that Chesnutt’s not delusional is all over his new CD, At the Cut, which compares to or even surpasses earlier masterpieces such as Silver Lake and Ghetto Bells. With songs ranging from the starkly intimate solo showcase “When the Bottom Fell Out” to the slow-swelling manifesto “It Is What It Is” and the heartbreaking meditation on death known as “Flirted With You All My Life”, it finds Chesnutt setting some of his most heartfelt lyrics to a sound that’s both gritty and gorgeous. And yet, he claims, the record’s not nearly as good as his recent live appearances.

“The recording process flattens out the dynamics,” he says. “It has to, to fit on the CD. But live, you can do a lot more. You can go from quieter to more bombastic—and it does. It’s incredible, truly incredible. And I sing differently. I’m a much better live performer than I am on the records, I think. People who wouldn’t listen to my records, or who have heard some of my records and didn’t like them, are saying ”˜Wow! I understand it more when he plays live.’ More of my personality comes through, you know. More of the humour and pathos mixed together.”

Chesnutt credits his band with encouraging him to think harder, play better, and write more honestly. And as the grinding art-history lesson that is “Philip Guston” intimates, he’s upped the volume as well as the ante.

“This band is an incredible brain trust,” he says, still sounding dumbstruck by his good luck. “There’s a lot of rock ’n’ roll knowledge and musical knowledge—classical, jazz—up on that stage. And punk rock, lots of punk-rock knowledge. The power—the volume—is unprecedented as well, in a folk-rock setting. Unprecedented.”

Those who aren’t up for the sonic assault of Chesnutt’s electric work will want to take note of the fact that he’s just released an almost entirely acoustic record, Skitter on Take-Off, on which he’s backed by proto-punk luminary Jonathan Richman. Proving that he really is on a roll, it’s just as fascinating as its louder sibling.

“I love both of them,” Chesnutt confesses. “I think there’s a place for both. They’re two sides of my songwriting, really.”

But it doesn’t take long before he returns to the wonder of his current touring outfit, and the thrilling music he’s been making on-stage.

“I can see on the faces of the audiences that this show is unforgettable,” he says. “It’s a very moving show—and the best music of my life. There’s no doubt about that.”

Vic Chesnutt plays the Red Room next Thursday (November 26).