‘Sunshine’ at Night: A Brooklyn Celebration of Bill Withers

The Bill Withers Project at Celebrate Brooklyn!

Bill Withers With B.L.Howard / photo by Jason Gardner

Brooklyn Roads Publisher B.L.Howard  Shares His Chance Meeting With Bill Withers     

In the summer of  2008, the legendary Hal Willner put together a musical tribute to Bill Withers, aptly named The Bill Withers Project. Featured in the line up were Nona Hendrix, Eric Mingus, James “Blood” Ulmer,  Jim James, Cornell Dupree, Christine Ohlman, Angélique Kidjo, The Persuasions and Kori Withers, accompanied by an all-star orchestra.

Christine Ohlman on stage /photo by Jason Gardner

This musical pilgrimage took place at the Celebrate Brooklyn! performing arts series on the Prospect Park Bandshell stage and was being filmed for the Still Bill documentary. I was there to cover the event for Elmore Magazine (Issue #28, October 2008). After the two-act performance was over, I  walked into the Friends Tent area to talk to some of the concert goers and BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! supporters. It was then that I ran into Joe Russell, one of The Persuasions’ singers, who walked me backstage and, much to my surprise, introduced me to Bill Withers. It was a moment in  time that will always be remembered and cherished.

Live at Carnegie Hall Rehearsals

Brooklyn Roads Contributing Photographer Al Pereira Tells About His Bill Withers Rehearsal Experience 

Ed Sheeran and Bill Withers /photo by Al Pereira

Withers only worked as a professional musician some 15 years, but his impact was substantial. He had half a dozen hit singles, garnered nine Grammy nominations and winning three, including one after he had gone on to do other things.  He was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005, and a decade later, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Bill Withers, Jonathan Butler and Greg Phillinganes / photo by Al Pereira

It was during the year of that last honor, 2015, that Brooklyn Roads was dispatched to cover a full day of rehearsals for a star-studded tribute entitled “Lean on Him: The Music of Bill Withers.”  Presented by City Winery at Carnegie Hall, it featured artists ranging from Ed Sheeran and Dr. John to Aloe Blacc and Michael McDonald. Each took a turn recreating part of Withers’ landmark 1973 album, Live At Carnegie Hall.

At the rehearsals, each artist carefully and reverentially pieced together their version of a selected song and chatted about how much Withers’ writing had meant to them. Perhaps no recollection was more poignant than that of South African musician Jonathan Butler, who first heard Withers while growing up in Cape Town during Apartheid.  “I just had to be here for this,” he told BR with a smile. “I had to.”

Typically, Withers slipped into the room quietly and watched from a quiet corner with his baseball hat pulled low, letting the music speak for him. He smiled and warmly spoke to the musicians if they spotted him and approached, but mostly stayed in the background.  And at some point, he slipped out in the same manner.