Five newly discovered, never-before-published interviews with Les
Paul, inventor of the solidbody electric guitar and multi-track
recording. Imagine if you had run into guitar legend Les Paul and
asked him the following questions: "Les Paul, what is your favorite
Les Paul?" "If you were talking to someone looking to break into
the music business, or just starting to play guitar, what would you
say to him or her?" "When Leo Fender was planning to come out with
his solidbody electric guitar, did he ask you to join him to
produce a 'Fender Les Paul" guitar?" "You've had so many setbacks
in your life, yet you keep bouncing back. How do you do it?" Those
are the exact questions--among many, many others--that music writer
Jim O'Donnell puts to the late Les Paul in the course of five
deeply engrossing conversations. The world class musician-inventor
doesn't disappoint in his candid, humorous, often surprising
responses. See how the mind of a genius works. Don't miss a word of
these revealing question-and-answer sessions that bring Les Paul
the person to the printed page. There are also four helpful
appendices: a Les Paul discography, filmography, webography, and
bibliography. As a special bonus, a Les Paul profile by Jim
O'Donnell is included--a story that the guitarist enjoyed so much
he had it hanging directly behind him onstage for two years. // LES
PAUL: GUITARIST, GENIUS, GOOD GUY: Guitar players from Jimi Hendrix
to Jimmy Page, from Andres Segovia to B.B. King, have acknowledged
the genius of Les Paul, inventor of the solidbody electric guitar
and multi-track recording. A virtuoso guitar player in his own
right, Les Paul won five Grammy Awards and is a member of the Rock
'n' Roll Hall of Fame. "The history of popular music without Les
Paul," writes music journalist and author Jim O'Donnell, "would be
as diminished as the history of the Beatles less Paul." The
guitarist's many contributions to the world of popular music are
well-known. What's not so well-known is the struggle he has had to
endure to achieve his stunning success. From quintuple bypass heart
surgery to four operations on his inner ear to encroaching
arthritis in his hands, the guitar legend had to battle every inch
of the way to the top. Along with critical health issues, his
career in music was also a battle. "Just about everything that I
ever thought of," he says, "it seemed as though there was someone
put on this earth to just stick his foot out and trip me." In the
course of his five interviews with Jim O'Donnell, Les Paul tells
why he never quit, despite all the battles. The guitar great also
talks about helping Jimi Hendrix build his recording studio; what
it takes to make it in the music business; how to buy a guitar;
creating the first solidbody electric guitar; how he developed the
distinctive Les Paul sound; and a wide variety of other fascinating
topics. What finally emerges is an authentic portrait of Les Paul
the person-a person who turns out to be even bigger than the
guitarist, the genius, or the guitar. // ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jim
O'Donnell is a longtime music writer whose work is in the Rock 'n'
Roll Hall of Fame library in Cleveland. He received his first
professional newspaper byline for a sports story in 1969. Since
that time, his features, profiles, columns and essays have focused
mostly on rock 'n' roll. O'Donnell has written several books,
including Queen Magic: Freddie Mercury Tribute and Brian May
Interview and The Day John Met Paul, which was published by Penguin
in several languages. He holds a Master's Degree from St. Peter's
College and studied journalism under New Journalism pioneer Richard
Goldstein at New York University. According to Michael Lydon, a
Founding Editor of ROLLING STONE: "Jim O'Donnell has a reporter's
curiosity, a rock 'n' roller's heart, and he writes like a lyrical
Irish poet."
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