Session Man
A Life as a Guitarist
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN EXTRAORDINARY GUITARIST WHO PUTS HIS TALENT AND CREATIVITY AT THE SERVICE OF SOME OF THE GREATEST ROCK AND POP MUSICIANS OF THE LAST FIFTY YEARS
"Palmer offers the reader a glimpse of what happens before an album hits the shops, and what happens before a band hits a stage. Session Man is well written, with plenty of anecdotes, humour, and pathos about a life that only a few very lucky people get to enjoy." Music News
"As right-hand man for everybody from Mark Knopfler to Eric Clapton, Phil Palmer more than earned his nickname: “Session Man”." Guitar World
The history of contemporary music has long been linked to a form of personality cult: the great bands and great rock and pop soloists were celebrated for the extremism and eccentricity of their lives, for the ability to embody or even to anticipate the spirit of the times, for the counter-current choices that have transformed them into icons of taste and society. But music is populated by many other figures who have preferred to remain in the shadow, avoiding the spotlight and escaping its most destructive effects: artists in their turn, virtuosos both of the instrument and the understatement, capable of collaborating with some of the most creative and popular characters on the rock and pop scene.
This is the case of Phil Palmer, who has lent his guitar to some of the most admired live sets and musical productions.
In Session Man he narrates his life, from his adolescence and his introduction to music through his uncles Ray and Dave Davies (the Kinks) to his encounters with the bigs of rock, blues and soul, to whom he dedicates passionate and profound portraits.
Some of the most important names in contemporary music thus pass in front our eyes: from David Bowie to Eric Clapton, from Dire Straits to George Michael.