While most of us have made Christmas day an excuse for indulging in bubbly, stuffed poultry, posh pates and dips, folk-rock master, Vic Chesnutt decided to call it (his life) a day on December 25th, by inflicting on himself an overdose of muscle relaxants that left him in coma.

Chesnutt, who had become paraplegic after a car accident when he was 18, had been battling with chronic depression ever since.

Sad but true, his torment had led to a prolific and magnificent discography of no less than seventeen albums in a twenty four-year-long career, two of which, Little (1990) and West of Rome (1991), produced by R.E.M front-man, Michael Stipe, who had discovered Vic in the early 90s at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia; and including the exquisite About to Choke released in 1996. That same year, Chesnutt was celebrated by the likes of Garbage, The Smashing Pumpkins , Madonna, Live and R.E.M in the Sweet Relief Fund Compilation, Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Sitiuation.

This year (2009) alone, Vic had released two LPs in At The Cut and Skitter On Take Off. While we bid him rest in peace, here's something to remember Vic by (above, right)...

Solange Moffi