Working for the Man, Playing in the Band

May 1, 2018

Guitarist Wood spent six years playing for James Brown as part of Brown's backup band The Soul Generals. By 1999, the hits had long been past, but Brown "never gave less than 110 percent," and here Wood delivers a fascinating insider's account of what it was like accompanying the "hardest-working man in show business." Brown cultivated an amazing group of players through the years, and many of them did their best work during their time with the band. Brown demanded top performance from his players and then raised it to the next level, and fans will delight in the stories related by Brown's longtime sidemen. Brown was by turns generous, volatile, exasperating, inspiring, and exhausting, and it's no surprise that Wood's tenure came to an abrupt end. Even so, for the author it was his greatest experience. VERDICT An insider's account that will delight both Brown fans and those interested in what it's like working for such a dedicated showman. Kudos to Wood for delivering the inside scoop on a demanding performer with exacting standards who brought it, every night.--Bill Baars, Lake Oswego P.L., OR

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 21, 2018
Wood gives readers an insightful, close-up view of what it was like to be a part of James Brown’s globetrotting band. After an initial 1998 meeting with Mr. Brown, as he was always called, replete in “the gloves, the glasses and the grease,” Wood was a regular guitarist with the Soul Generals almost until the legendary singer’s 2006 death, But it was never a sure thing, as “holding down your spot in James Brown’s band was a tightrope walk without a net” due to the boss’s mood swings and flamboyantly confrontational style. As Wood recounts, Brown once “walked up to each person in the band, got in their face and demanded ‘Do you like your job? Do you want your job?.’ ” A white musician playing behind one of the funkiest men in music history, Wood says he was with the band for years “before I really began to understand how funk breathes.” Wood and Carson smoothly explain the intricacies of being a guitarist, detailing but never dwelling on minutiae such as Brown’s hand signals or tuning on the fly. Readers will come away with a deep respect for the skill and resilience needed to be a professional touring musician, especially one traveling and playing with a mercurial star.