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When photojournalist Robb Lawrence made his 1979film documentary, The Wizard of Waukesha,Les Paul had not yet gained his stature as the zany elder uncle of electricguitar and recording technology. It had been many years since he was a regularon television and a player on the pop charts. Even younger rock fans in Milwaukee often had noidea of Paul’s local ties. His career revival had already begun, however, whenhe reemerged from retirement in 1968, determined to keep searching for theperfect sound he heard in his head.
Lawrence’sbook The Modern Era of the Les PaulLegacy 1968-2009 (published by Hal Leonard) is a brightly illustratedchronicle of Les Paul’s latter day guitars, including customized wonders,historical reissues and rarities of all sorts. Lawrence was apparently a confident of theold wizard since the ‘70s and had easy access to the material. The Modern Era is geared to guitar headsbut a wider circle of music fans might find interest in interviews with Slashand other guitarists who built their sound on Les Paul’s legacy.
