The story of how a 33-year-old Navy veteran from Slab Fork, West Virginia, went from building toilets for 747s in a factory to playing at Carnegie Hall in less than two years. Still Bill is more ambitious than that. Instead, Alex Vlack and Damani Baker try to make sense of soul icon Bill Withers, now a retiree in his seventies whose decision to reject the music industry in 1985 comes back, if not to haunt him, then at least to tug gently at the sleeve of his sweatshirt while he pads around his well-appointed Los Angeles home. With his two children now fully grown, the singer and songwriter who produced some of the biggest singles of the ’70s (Ain’t No Sunshine, Lean On Me) is remarkably content. Listening to Withers explain why he quit show business in response to record company meddling in his music and image makes you wonder what kind of person doesn’t quit. If, per Hunter S. Thompson, the music biz is a place where good men die like dogs, Withers got out while the getting was good.
Country: US
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2009
Rating: M
Format:
