Wood and Wire: The Life and Music of a “Guitar Slinger” and His Fight with Parkinson’s Disease

Wood and Wire: The Life and Music of a "Guitar Slinger" and His Fight with Parkinson's Disease is the story of Jimmy Nalls, one of the finest guitarists to come out of the fertile Washington, D.C. music scene in the second half of the twentieth century. A self-described musical “chameleon,” who could both lock in with the rhythm section or step out with a burning solo, Jimmy is a versatile picker who has played electric, acoustic, and slide guitar with a diverse range of bands and musicians, including Sea Level, the Nighthawks, B.J. Thomas, Noel Paul Stookey, T. Graham Brown and more. While touring with Brown in the 90s, Nalls began to notice the first symptoms of what would later be diagnosed as Parkinson's Disease. This book traces his musical roots in D.C., brings you face-to-face with some of music's brightest stars, then finally recounts Jimmy's inspiring fight against Parkinson's.