Working for the Man, Playing in the Band
My Years with James Brown
by Damon Wood
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
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Pub Date May 01 2018 | Archive Date Jan 09 2018
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Description
A young, long-haired rock guitarist finds the funk on stage with the Godfather of Soul
In this unvarnished account of toiling under one of popular music’s most notorious bosses, Damon Wood details his six years spent playing guitar for James Brown’s Soul Generals.
In a memoir certain to fascinate Mr. Dynamite’s millions of fans, as well as musicians and industry insiders, Wood recalls how a chance encounter with James Brown led him to embrace soul and funk music under the tutelage of its greatest progenitor. Numerous interviews with bandmates provide multiple perspectives on James Brown’s complex character, his leadership of his band, the nature of soul and funk, and insights and sometimes harsh lessons learned along the way.
This is a sideman’s story of the gritty reality of working close to the spotlight but rarely in it. Damon Wood describes life on the road — often on James Brown’s infamous tour bus — with one guitar, a change of clothes, and two dozen comrades-in-arms as they brought the funk to clubs, theaters, and the biggest music festivals on earth. Working for James Brown could be fear-inducing, inspiring, exhilarating, and exasperating — all in the space of a single performance.
A Note From the Publisher
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781770413856 |
| PRICE | $26.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 320 |
Featured Reviews
V N, Reviewer
Awesome book about the author's playing for the "Godfather of Soul", James Brown. What an honor and experience. The author takes us righ there with him during the good, bad or indifferent. I truly enjoyed this book and I wish the author the best. Thank you so much for insight on your experince with Mr. Brown. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review.
Dave W, Reviewer
Most books about musicians, performers, entertainers, attempt to be almost encyclopedic in their descriptions of every aspect of the entertainer's biography, including detailing every tour date, every record, and every contract, often ending up being over 600 pages. That's not this book. Instead of giving us such a complete unedited historical narrative, Working for the Man offers us a shorter glimpse into a period of a star's career and from a unique perspective- that of a member of the band. Damon Wood worked as a guitarist for nearly six years towards the end of a James Browmpn's storied career and from that perspective - Damon's perspective- gives us the lowdown on that experience of working in an often 30 piece band that was run by a charismatic but often mercurial general, the hardest working man in show business - or do they say. Towards the end, the book might be a little longer than necessary, but it's all fascinating.
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