Still Bill

Still Bill is a documentary about Bill Withers that premiered on Showtime last month.  It's enlightening mostly because Withers disappeared after his last album in 1985.  But Withers never lost his passion write and record music, he lost his will to fight against Record Company Execs that he felt were doing him wrong.
The doc shows that Withers, with his homegrown studio, is still putting stuff down on tape.  Sadly, none that I know of, has seen the light.
But here's the catch.  Withers hates Record company suits, but doesn't  realize that in 2011 you don't need them to get your music out there.  How cool would it be if Withers put out an album on his own label.  He certainly has the finances to do this.  No, he'll never top the charts again, but I can see a market for his music with R&B Adult Contemporary and Smooth Jazz stations. Withers is 73, but the doc shows that his voice hasn't aged all that much.  The little I heard sounded good.
26 years is a long time for someone to sit on the sidelines.  But we shouldn't feel too sorry for him.  His royalty checks, thanks to 5 standards (Lean On Me, Use Me, Ain't No Sunshine, Just The Two of Us and Lovely Day) are substantial.   Still, it would nice if Withers followed his muse one last time.