Cody ChesnuTT

The common life just wasn't enough for soul singer Cody ChesnuTT. In 1992, after working as a long-distance operator, he left his day job to make his dream in music come true. It would be another ten years until they were fully realized, but the trek made ChesnuTT the musician he is today.

ChesnuTT began tinkering with the guitar in his early teens in his native Atlanta. His father was a manager of several local bands. This, in turn, opened doors and by age 13 he was playing shows. By his late 20s, he founded the band Crosswalk and was a skillful guitar player. A major-label deal was in the works, but everything fell short for ChesnuTT. The new millennium, however, proved golden. He hibernated in his bedroom, a homemade studio he nicknamed the Sonic Promiseland and began recording. What amassed from those personal sessions was a 36-track double-disc entitled The Headphone Masterpiece.