Vic Chesnutt was an American poet, songwriter and performer of folk rock, Americana and alternative country. An accident when he was 18 left him partialy paralysed and he performed in a wheelchair until his death at the age of 45 from an overdose. Director Peter Sillen made a documentary short for America's PBS television network titled 'Speed Racer: Welcome to the World of Vic Chesnutt' in 1994 that conveyed Chesnutt's impressionistic view of the world as he recorded his second album 'West of Rome'. His 2010 album 'At the Cut' went to number 14 on Billboard's Americana/Folk Albums Chart.
He grew up in Zebulon, Georgia where he started to write songs as a child. Following his accident he could play only simple chords on the guitar but he had a stint with a band called the La-di-das and then went solo. R.E.M. star Michael Stipe saw him perform and produced his first two albums starting with 'Little' in 1990. Artists including R.E.M., Madonna, Garbage, The Smashing Pumpkins, Cracker, Soul Asylum and Live recorded some of his songs for a charity recording, 'Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation' in 1996 and he contributed works to 'Evening's Civil Twilight in Empires of Tin' that New York film-maker Jem Cohen created for the Vienna International Film Festival in 2007. With live readings of texts by writer Joseph Roth, the series of vignettes were collated for a 2009 DVD release. Chesnutt collaborated with many artists including Bob Mould, Widespread Panic, Scott Stuckey, Bill Frisell and Elephant 6. His final album was 'Skitter On Take-Off' in 2009.