Garth Hudson
Encyclopedia
Eric Garth Hudson is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist. As the organist
, keyboardist
and saxophonist
for Canadian
-American rock
group The Band
, he was a principal architect of the group's unique sound. In 1970, Time magazine called Hudson "the most brilliant organist in the rock world".
A master of the Lowrey organ
, Hudson's orchestral tone sense and style anticipated many of the sonic advances of the polyphonic synthesizer
. His other primary instruments are piano
, electronic keyboards
, tenor saxophone
, soprano saxophone
and accordion
. He has been a much-in-demand and respected session musician
, performing with dozens of artists and earning the accolades of many including Elton John
, who has cited him as an early influence. He also plays in a duo with his wife, Maud, and in 2002 joined his friend Sneaky Pete Kleinow
in Burrito Deluxe, an offshoot of The Flying Burrito Brothers
. He also has his own twelve piece band, The Best!.
, accordion
and sang. His father played drums
, C melody saxophone
, clarinet
, flute
and piano
. Garth was born in Windsor
and moved with his family to London, Ontario
around 1940. He attended Broughdale Public School, Medway High School (Arva, Ontario)
and the University of Western Ontario
. Classically trained in piano, music theory
, harmony
and counterpoint
, Garth first played professionally with dance bands in 1949 at the age of twelve and wrote his first song at the age of 11. In 1958, he joined a rock and roll
band, the Capers. He was also reported to say that he gained some performance experience from playing at his uncle's funeral parlour. Then, in December 1961, the 24-year-old Hudson joined The Hawks, the backing band for Ronnie Hawkins
, which already consisted of 21-year-old Levon Helm
on drums, 18-year-old Robbie Robertson
on guitar, 18-year-old Rick Danko
on bass and 18-year-old pianist Richard Manuel
.
Fearing that his parents would think he was squandering his years of music education
by playing in a rock and roll band, Hudson joined the band on the condition he be given the title "music consultant" and that his bandmates each pay him $10 a week for music lessons. If anyone had questions about music theory, they'd turn to Hudson. And while pocketing a little extra cash, Hudson was also able to mollify his family's fears that his education had gone to waste and that he was indeed a music teacher (Revealing a bit of the thinking behind his early fears, in The Last Waltz
Hudson told interviewer-director Martin Scorsese
: "There is a view that jazz
is 'evil' because it comes from evil people, but actually the greatest priests on 52nd Street
and on the streets of New York City were the musicians. They were doing the greatest healing work. They knew how to punch through music that would cure and make people feel good.")
as part of his package. This is significant as he was one of the few organ players within the rock & roll/rhythm & blues community to pointedly eschew the Hammond organ
. The Lowrey organ offered a different mix of features and Hudson stayed with Lowrey right through Ronnie Hawkins
/The Hawks, Bob Dylan
and The Band
, playing three different models: originally a Festival (FL) console which was replaced by a Lincolnwood TSO-25 during 1969. Later still, Hudson played a horseshoe console H25 model, as depicted in The Last Waltz
.
in 1965, playing organ on an album by John Hammond, Jr.
.
In 1965, they were introduced to Bob Dylan
by manager Albert Grossman
's assistant, Mary Martin. In October 1965, Dylan and the Hawks recorded the single "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?
", and in January 1966 they recorded material with Dylan for what would turn into the Blonde on Blonde
album. Dylan recruited the band to accompany him on his controversial 1966 "electric" tour of the United States, Australia and Europe. (An album of Dylan's 1966 performance with his band, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert, was finally released in 1998.) Subsequent to Bob Dylan's motorcycle accident in July 1966, the group settled in a pink house in West Saugerties, New York
near Woodstock. Dylan was a frequent visitor and Garth recorded their collaborations, resulting in The Basement Tapes
.
By 1968, the group recorded its debut album, Music from Big Pink
. The album was recorded in Los Angeles (at Capitol) and New York (at A&R Studio). Capitol originally announced that the group would be called "The Crackers", but when Music From Big Pink was released they were officially named The Band. The album includes Hudson's organ showcase, "Chest Fever", a song that in The Band's live shows would be vastly expanded by a solo organ introduction entitled "The Genetic Method", an improvisation
al work that would be played differently each performance. An example can be heard on the live album Rock of Ages
. Garth is also adept at the accordion which he played on some of the group's folk recordings like "Rockin Chair" from "The Band
", the traditional "Ain't No More Cane" from "The Basement Tapes
", Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece
", and Bobby Charles
' "Down South in New Orleans" during The Last Waltz
. His saxophone solo work can be heard on such songs as "Tears of Rage" (from Big Pink) and "Unfaithful Servant" (from The Band
). Garth is credited for playing all of the brass and woodwinds of the studio version of "Ophelia" on the 1975 album Northern Lights - Southern Cross
as well. This album, the first to be recorded in The Band's Shangri-La recording studio in Malibu, California, also saw Garth adding synthesizers to his arsenal of instruments.
Hudson provided innovative accompaniment. For example, the song "Up On Cripple Creek" features Hudson playing a clavinet
through a wah-wah pedal
to create a swampy sound reminiscent of a jaw harp or the croak of a frog
. This clavinet/wah pedal configuration was later adopted by many funk
musicians.
After years of continuous touring, The Band made its final bow as a touring band with a lavish final concert on Thanksgiving
Day 1976 at Winterland in San Francisco
, an all-star tribute concert documented in The Last Waltz
.
, and then dissolved. By then, Hudson had married his singer/actress wife, Maud. He had his own property, Big Oak Basin Dude Ranch, in Malibu, which was destroyed by wildfires in 1978, after extensive renovations that included an impressive studio.
He was active during this period as a session musician
, performing on movie soundtracks and albums by many other artists, including Emmylou Harris
, Van Morrison
(Wavelength
) and Leonard Cohen
(Recent Songs
). He composed music for Our Lady Queen of the Angels
, a multimedia show created for the Los Angeles
bicentennial in 1980.
The Band reformed in 1983, with all the original members except Robbie Robertson
. Richard Manuel
lived at Hudson's ranch in 1978. He died in 1986. Supplemented by a rotating roster of additional musicians, The Band continued to tour. It released three albums in the 1990s.
Recorded Feed The Birds on Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films
, 1988 (one of Various Artists).
In 1990 Hudson, playing accordion
, along with bandmates Levon Helm
and Rick Danko
, who harmonized with the vocalists, took part in Roger Waters
' massive performance of The Wall
at the Berlin Wall
.
As a member of The Band, Hudson was inducted into the Juno Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
in 1994.
Through the years, he kept in contact with his old bandmates, playing on solo efforts by Rick Danko
, Robbie Robertson
and Levon Helm
.
In 2002, with his home in foreclosure and Robertson having bought out his stake in The Band, Hudson was forced to declare bankruptcy for the third time. He continued to record and perform. On July 13, 2002, he was honored with the Canada South Blues Society's Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2002, he joined with former Flying Burrito Brothers
' pedal steel
player Sneaky Pete Kleinow
to form Burrito Deluxe, with Carlton Moody of the Moody Brothers on lead vocals and guitars, bassist Jeff "Stick" Davis of Amazing Rhythm Aces
and drummer Rick Lonow. The group recorded two albums, Georgia Peach and The Whole Enchilada, before Kleinow departed in 2004 due to health problems.
In 2005, Garth formed his own 12-piece band The Best! with his wife, Maud, on vocals. That same year, Garth and Maud Hudson released Live at the Wolf
, a piano and vocal album recorded live at the Wolf Performance Hall in London, Ontario
, Hudson's hometown.
On November 20, 2005, Garth received the Hamilton Music Award for Best Instrumentalist.
He continues as a much-in-demand session player, performing with such artists as Neko Case
(Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
and Middle Cyclone
), Chris Castle
(Last Bird Home), Teddy Thompson
(Separate Ways), The Secret Machines
(Ten Silver Drops
), The Sadies
(Live 2006), The Lemonheads
, Jonah Smith
(2006 self-titled debut), Yesterday's News
, Billy the Kid (The Lost Cause) and others. He contributed an original electronic score to an off-Broadway
production of Dragon Slayers, written by Stanley Keyes
and directed by Brad Mays
in 1986 at the Union Square Theatre in New York. The production was re-staged with a new cast in Los Angeles in 1990.
A few of the artists Garth performed with in 2006 are Ronnie Hawkins
, The Sadies
, Neko Case
, Heavy Trash
, John Hiatt
, North Mississippi All-Stars, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings
, and Chris Zaloom, some of which were recorded. Hudson and his talent on piano are prominently featured in the 2007 Daniel Lanois
DVD documentary Here Is What Is.
On November 16, 2010, Hudson released Garth Hudson Presents: A Canadian Celebration of The Band. The album features Canadian artists covering songs that were recorded by The Band. Hudson plays on every track and co-produces the album with Peter J. Moore
. Acts that appear on the album include Neil Young
, Bruce Cockburn
, Blue Rodeo
, Cowboy Junkies
, The Trews
, Great Big Sea
, Hawksley Workman
, Mary Margaret O'Hara
, Chantal Kreviazuk
, Raine Maida
and Ian Thornley
.
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, keyboardist
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
and saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
for Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
-American rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
group The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
, he was a principal architect of the group's unique sound. In 1970, Time magazine called Hudson "the most brilliant organist in the rock world".
A master of the Lowrey organ
Lowrey organ
The Lowrey organ is an electronic organ named after Chicago industrialist Frederick Lowrey.During the 1960s and 1970s, Lowrey was the largest manufacturer of electronic organs in the world. In 1989, the Lowrey Organ Company produced its 1,000,000th organ....
, Hudson's orchestral tone sense and style anticipated many of the sonic advances of the polyphonic synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
. His other primary instruments are piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, electronic keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, tenor saxophone
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
, soprano saxophone
Soprano saxophone
The soprano saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument, invented in 1840. The soprano is the third smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists of the soprillo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass and tubax.A transposing instrument pitched in...
and accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
. He has been a much-in-demand and respected session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
, performing with dozens of artists and earning the accolades of many including Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, who has cited him as an early influence. He also plays in a duo with his wife, Maud, and in 2002 joined his friend Sneaky Pete Kleinow
Sneaky Pete Kleinow
Peter E. "Sneaky Pete" Kleinow was an American country-rock musician, songwriter, and a motion picture special effects artist...
in Burrito Deluxe, an offshoot of The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers was an early country rock band, best known for its influential debut album,The Gilded Palace of Sin . Although the group is most often mentioned in connection with country rock legends Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, the group underwent many personnel changes.-Original...
. He also has his own twelve piece band, The Best!.
Early life
Garth Hudson's parents, Fred James Hudson and Olive Louella Pentland, were musicians. His mother played pianoPiano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
and sang. His father played drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, C melody saxophone
C melody saxophone
The C melody saxophone is a saxophone pitched in the key of C, one whole step above the tenor saxophone. In the UK it is sometimes referred to as a "C tenor", and in France as a "tenor en ut". The C melody was part of the series of saxophones pitched in C and F, intended by the instrument's...
, clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
and piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. Garth was born in Windsor
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
and moved with his family to London, Ontario
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
around 1940. He attended Broughdale Public School, Medway High School (Arva, Ontario)
Medway High School (Arva, Ontario)
Medway High School is a baked school located in Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada. Approximately five minutes north of London, Ontario, Canada.-History:...
and the University of Western Ontario
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario is a public research university located in London, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus covers of land, with the Thames River cutting through the eastern portion of the main campus. Western administers its programs through 12 different faculties and...
. Classically trained in piano, music theory
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
, harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
and counterpoint
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
, Garth first played professionally with dance bands in 1949 at the age of twelve and wrote his first song at the age of 11. In 1958, he joined a rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
band, the Capers. He was also reported to say that he gained some performance experience from playing at his uncle's funeral parlour. Then, in December 1961, the 24-year-old Hudson joined The Hawks, the backing band for Ronnie Hawkins
Ronnie Hawkins
Ronald "Ronnie" Hawkins is a Juno Award-winning rockabilly musician whose career has spanned more than half a century. Though his career began in Arkansas, USA, where he'd been born and raised, it was in Ontario, Canada where he found success and settled for most of his life...
, which already consisted of 21-year-old Levon Helm
Levon Helm
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm , is an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band....
on drums, 18-year-old Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
on guitar, 18-year-old Rick Danko
Rick Danko
Richard Clare "Rick" Danko was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band.-Early years :...
on bass and 18-year-old pianist Richard Manuel
Richard Manuel
Richard George Manuel was a Canadian composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his contributions to and membership in The Band....
.
Fearing that his parents would think he was squandering his years of music education
Music education
Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on all domains of learning, including the psychomotor domain , the cognitive domain , and, in particular and significant ways,the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity...
by playing in a rock and roll band, Hudson joined the band on the condition he be given the title "music consultant" and that his bandmates each pay him $10 a week for music lessons. If anyone had questions about music theory, they'd turn to Hudson. And while pocketing a little extra cash, Hudson was also able to mollify his family's fears that his education had gone to waste and that he was indeed a music teacher (Revealing a bit of the thinking behind his early fears, in The Last Waltz
The Last Waltz
The Last Waltz was a concert by the rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco...
Hudson told interviewer-director Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
: "There is a view that jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
is 'evil' because it comes from evil people, but actually the greatest priests on 52nd Street
52nd Street (Manhattan)
52nd Street is a long one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan.-Jazz center:The blocks of 52nd Street between Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue were renowned in the mid-20th century for the abundance of jazz clubs and lively street life...
and on the streets of New York City were the musicians. They were doing the greatest healing work. They knew how to punch through music that would cure and make people feel good.")
Lowrey organ
Upon joining The Hawks, Hudson also took the opportunity to negotiate a new Lowrey organLowrey organ
The Lowrey organ is an electronic organ named after Chicago industrialist Frederick Lowrey.During the 1960s and 1970s, Lowrey was the largest manufacturer of electronic organs in the world. In 1989, the Lowrey Organ Company produced its 1,000,000th organ....
as part of his package. This is significant as he was one of the few organ players within the rock & roll/rhythm & blues community to pointedly eschew the Hammond organ
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
. The Lowrey organ offered a different mix of features and Hudson stayed with Lowrey right through Ronnie Hawkins
Ronnie Hawkins
Ronald "Ronnie" Hawkins is a Juno Award-winning rockabilly musician whose career has spanned more than half a century. Though his career began in Arkansas, USA, where he'd been born and raised, it was in Ontario, Canada where he found success and settled for most of his life...
/The Hawks, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
, playing three different models: originally a Festival (FL) console which was replaced by a Lincolnwood TSO-25 during 1969. Later still, Hudson played a horseshoe console H25 model, as depicted in The Last Waltz
The Last Waltz
The Last Waltz was a concert by the rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco...
.
The Band: 1965–1976
Under the strict supervision of Hawkins, The Hawks became an accomplished band and split from Hawkins in 1963. They recorded two singles and toured almost continually, playing in bars and clubs, usually billed as Levon and the Hawks. Hudson started work as a session musicianSession musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
in 1965, playing organ on an album by John Hammond, Jr.
John P. Hammond
John Paul Hammond is an American blues singer and guitarist. The son of record producer John H. Hammond, he is sometimes referred to as "John Hammond, Jr.".-Background:...
.
In 1965, they were introduced to Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
by manager Albert Grossman
Albert Grossman
Albert Bernard Grossman was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music scene and rock and roll. He was most famous as the manager of Bob Dylan between 1962 and 1970.-Biography:...
's assistant, Mary Martin. In October 1965, Dylan and the Hawks recorded the single "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?
Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?
"Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" was a 1965 single by American rock artist Bob Dylan. It reached #58 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and #17 on the UK chart in January 1966...
", and in January 1966 they recorded material with Dylan for what would turn into the Blonde on Blonde
Blonde on Blonde
Blonde on Blonde is American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's seventh studio album, released in May or June 1966 on Columbia Records and produced by Bob Johnston. Recording sessions commenced in New York in October 1965, with a plethora of backing musicians, including members of Dylan's live backing...
album. Dylan recruited the band to accompany him on his controversial 1966 "electric" tour of the United States, Australia and Europe. (An album of Dylan's 1966 performance with his band, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert, was finally released in 1998.) Subsequent to Bob Dylan's motorcycle accident in July 1966, the group settled in a pink house in West Saugerties, New York
Saugerties (town), New York
Saugerties is a town in Ulster County, New York, USA. The population was 19,482 at the 2000 census. The Town of Saugerties contains the Village of Saugerties. The town is in the northeast corner of Ulster County....
near Woodstock. Dylan was a frequent visitor and Garth recorded their collaborations, resulting in The Basement Tapes
The Basement Tapes
The Basement Tapes is a 1975 studio album by Bob Dylan and The Band. The songs featuring Dylan's vocals were recorded in 1967, eight years before the album's release, at houses in and around Woodstock, New York, where Dylan and the Band lived...
.
By 1968, the group recorded its debut album, Music from Big Pink
Music from Big Pink
Music from Big Pink is the 1968 debut album by rock band The Band. It features the well-known song, "The Weight". The music was composed partly in 'Big Pink', a house shared by Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Garth Hudson in West Saugerties, in upstate New York...
. The album was recorded in Los Angeles (at Capitol) and New York (at A&R Studio). Capitol originally announced that the group would be called "The Crackers", but when Music From Big Pink was released they were officially named The Band. The album includes Hudson's organ showcase, "Chest Fever", a song that in The Band's live shows would be vastly expanded by a solo organ introduction entitled "The Genetic Method", an improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
al work that would be played differently each performance. An example can be heard on the live album Rock of Ages
Rock of Ages (album)
-Side two:-Side three:-Side four:-2001 bonus disc track listing:-Personnel:* Rick Danko - vocal, bass, violin* Levon Helm - vocal, drums, mandolin* Garth Hudson - organ, piano, accordion, tenor saxophone and soprano saxophone solos...
. Garth is also adept at the accordion which he played on some of the group's folk recordings like "Rockin Chair" from "The Band
The Band (album)
- Bonus Track listing from 2000 re-release :All songs by Robbie Robertson unless otherwise noted. The 2000 re-release has also been packaged as a double CD with The Band's debut album Music from Big Pink.- Personnel :...
", the traditional "Ain't No More Cane" from "The Basement Tapes
The Basement Tapes
The Basement Tapes is a 1975 studio album by Bob Dylan and The Band. The songs featuring Dylan's vocals were recorded in 1967, eight years before the album's release, at houses in and around Woodstock, New York, where Dylan and the Band lived...
", Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece
When I Paint My Masterpiece
"When I Paint My Masterpiece" is a song written by Bob Dylan and first featured on the Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II compilation in 1971. The song is segued back-to-back with "Tomorrow is a Long Time" . Even though there is applause at the beginning of the song, it is in fact a studio recording...
", and Bobby Charles
Bobby Charles
Bobby Charles was an American singer-songwriter.An ethnic Cajun, Charles was born as Robert Charles Guidry in Abbeville, Louisiana and grew up listening to Cajun music and the country and western music of Hank Williams...
' "Down South in New Orleans" during The Last Waltz
The Last Waltz
The Last Waltz was a concert by the rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco...
. His saxophone solo work can be heard on such songs as "Tears of Rage" (from Big Pink) and "Unfaithful Servant" (from The Band
The Band (album)
- Bonus Track listing from 2000 re-release :All songs by Robbie Robertson unless otherwise noted. The 2000 re-release has also been packaged as a double CD with The Band's debut album Music from Big Pink.- Personnel :...
). Garth is credited for playing all of the brass and woodwinds of the studio version of "Ophelia" on the 1975 album Northern Lights - Southern Cross
Northern Lights - Southern Cross
- Bonus track listing from 2001 Re-release:-Group members and other participants:*Rick Danko: Bass, guitar, fiddle, harmonica, trombone, vocals*Levon Helm: drums, guitars, mandolin, piano, keyboards, vocals...
as well. This album, the first to be recorded in The Band's Shangri-La recording studio in Malibu, California, also saw Garth adding synthesizers to his arsenal of instruments.
Clavinet
A Clavinet is an electrically amplified keyboard instrument manufactured by the Hohner company. It is essentially an electronically amplified clavichord, analogous to an electric guitar. Its distinctive bright staccato sound has appeared particularly in funk, disco, rock, and reggae songs.Various...
through a wah-wah pedal
Wah-wah pedal
A wah-wah pedal is a type of guitar effects pedal that alters the tone of the signal to create a distinctive effect, mimicking the human voice...
to create a swampy sound reminiscent of a jaw harp or the croak of a frog
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
. This clavinet/wah pedal configuration was later adopted by many funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
musicians.
After years of continuous touring, The Band made its final bow as a touring band with a lavish final concert on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving (United States)
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...
Day 1976 at Winterland in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, an all-star tribute concert documented in The Last Waltz
The Last Waltz
The Last Waltz was a concert by the rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco...
.
Band reformed: 1980s–1990s
The Band recorded one more album after The Last Waltz, IslandsIslands (The Band album)
- Bonus tracks from 2001 CD re-release:All songs written by Robbie Robertson except where indicated.-Personnel:The Band*Rick Danko – bass guitar, vocals*Levon Helm – drums, vocals...
, and then dissolved. By then, Hudson had married his singer/actress wife, Maud. He had his own property, Big Oak Basin Dude Ranch, in Malibu, which was destroyed by wildfires in 1978, after extensive renovations that included an impressive studio.
He was active during this period as a session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
, performing on movie soundtracks and albums by many other artists, including Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
, Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
(Wavelength
Wavelength (album)
Wavelength, the tenth album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison was released in the spring of 1978. The album has a different musical sound than his previous albums, leaning towards a pop sound with prominent electric guitars and synthesizers. Wavelength was Morrison's best selling...
) and Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
(Recent Songs
Recent Songs
Recent Songs was the sixth studio album by Leonard Cohen, released in 1979. Produced by Henry Lewy and the artist himself, the album was a return to Cohen's acoustic folk music after the Phil Spector experimentation of Death of a Ladies' Man, but now with many jazz and Oriental influences.The album...
). He composed music for Our Lady Queen of the Angels
Music for Our Lady Queen of the Angels
Music for Our Lady Qeeen of the Angels is the first album by multi-instrumentalist Garth Hudson, released in 1980 .The album is a soundtrack for a special installation for exhibition at the Los Angeles Museum of Science and Industry by sculptor Tony Duquette...
, a multimedia show created for the Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
bicentennial in 1980.
The Band reformed in 1983, with all the original members except Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
. Richard Manuel
Richard Manuel
Richard George Manuel was a Canadian composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his contributions to and membership in The Band....
lived at Hudson's ranch in 1978. He died in 1986. Supplemented by a rotating roster of additional musicians, The Band continued to tour. It released three albums in the 1990s.
Recorded Feed The Birds on Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films
Stay Awake (album)
Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films is a 1988 tribute album recorded by various artists performing songs from Disney films...
, 1988 (one of Various Artists).
In 1990 Hudson, playing accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, along with bandmates Levon Helm
Levon Helm
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm , is an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band....
and Rick Danko
Rick Danko
Richard Clare "Rick" Danko was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band.-Early years :...
, who harmonized with the vocalists, took part in Roger Waters
Roger Waters
George Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
' massive performance of The Wall
The Wall Concert in Berlin
The Wall – Live in Berlin was a live concert performance by Roger Waters and numerous guest artists, of the Pink Floyd studio album, The Wall, itself largely written by Waters during his time with the band. The show was held in Berlin, Germany, on 21 July 1990, to commemorate the fall of the Berlin...
at the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
.
As a member of The Band, Hudson was inducted into the Juno Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
in 1994.
Through the years, he kept in contact with his old bandmates, playing on solo efforts by Rick Danko
Rick Danko
Richard Clare "Rick" Danko was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band.-Early years :...
, Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
and Levon Helm
Levon Helm
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm , is an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band....
.
As a solo artist: 2001–present
Hudson released his first solo album September 11, 2001 entitled The Sea To The North.In 2002, with his home in foreclosure and Robertson having bought out his stake in The Band, Hudson was forced to declare bankruptcy for the third time. He continued to record and perform. On July 13, 2002, he was honored with the Canada South Blues Society's Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2002, he joined with former Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers was an early country rock band, best known for its influential debut album,The Gilded Palace of Sin . Although the group is most often mentioned in connection with country rock legends Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, the group underwent many personnel changes.-Original...
' pedal steel
Pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...
player Sneaky Pete Kleinow
Sneaky Pete Kleinow
Peter E. "Sneaky Pete" Kleinow was an American country-rock musician, songwriter, and a motion picture special effects artist...
to form Burrito Deluxe, with Carlton Moody of the Moody Brothers on lead vocals and guitars, bassist Jeff "Stick" Davis of Amazing Rhythm Aces
Amazing Rhythm Aces
The Amazing Rhythm Aces are an American country rock group. The band has characterized their music as "American Music" or "Roots Music" — rock, country, blues, R&B, folk, reggae and Latino...
and drummer Rick Lonow. The group recorded two albums, Georgia Peach and The Whole Enchilada, before Kleinow departed in 2004 due to health problems.
In 2005, Garth formed his own 12-piece band The Best! with his wife, Maud, on vocals. That same year, Garth and Maud Hudson released Live at the Wolf
Live at the Wolf
Live at the Wolf is the first live album by The Band's member Garth Hudson, and his wife Maud. It's only a Piano-Accordion-vocal album.This album is a recording of an intimate performance by the Hudsons, who were there to celebrate the opening weekend of the new London Public Library's wonderful...
, a piano and vocal album recorded live at the Wolf Performance Hall in London, Ontario
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
, Hudson's hometown.
On November 20, 2005, Garth received the Hamilton Music Award for Best Instrumentalist.
He continues as a much-in-demand session player, performing with such artists as Neko Case
Neko Case
Neko Case is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her solo career and her contributions as a member of the Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers....
(Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood is a 2006 album by Neko Case. It was her first solo studio album in four years.The album was recorded at Wave Lab Studios in Tucson, Arizona, except the beginning of "John Saw That Number", which was recorded in a stairwell at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern; and "At...
and Middle Cyclone
Middle Cyclone
Middle Cyclone is the fifth studio album of American alternative country singer-songwriter Neko Case, released on Tuesday, March 3, 2009 on the ANTI- record label. Her first solo effort in three years, Case stated that "it took a very long time to make." As the title of the album suggests, the...
), Chris Castle
Chris Castle
Chris Castle is a folk/Americana singer-songwriter. Cleveland Magazine has described his writing as an "authentic connection to the world-weary soul of American roots music", while The New London Day's Rick Koster calls Castle "a visionary songwriter" and "a tunesmith of almost scary vision,...
(Last Bird Home), Teddy Thompson
Teddy Thompson
Teddy Thompson is a British folk and rock musician. He is the son of folk-rock musicians Richard and Linda Thompson and brother of singer Kamila Thompson...
(Separate Ways), The Secret Machines
The Secret Machines
The Secret Machines are a three-piece American alternative rock band. Originally from Dallas, Texas before moving to New York City, they describe their band as space rock. The original lineup consisted of two brothers, Brandon and Benjamin Curtis, and Josh Garza...
(Ten Silver Drops
Ten Silver Drops
Ten Silver Drops is the name of the second full-length album by the American rock band The Secret Machines. It was released exclusively through the iTunes Music Store on February 28, 2006, while the street date for the CD was April 25, 2006. The first single from the album, "Alone, Jealous and...
), The Sadies
The Sadies
The Sadies are a Canadian indie rock and alternative country band from Toronto, Ontario.-Background:The band consists of Dallas Good , Travis Good, Sean Dean and Mike Belitsky...
(Live 2006), The Lemonheads
The Lemonheads
The Lemonheads are an American alternative rock band first formed in 1986 by Evan Dando, Ben Deily and Jesse Peretz. Dando has remained the band's only constant member....
, Jonah Smith
Jonah Smith
Jonah Smith is an American musician.He recorded his first indie album, Industry Rule, in 2000 at engineer Matt Stein's studio in New York...
(2006 self-titled debut), Yesterday's News
Yesterday's News
"Yesterday's News" is a song by alternative country band Whiskeytown, co-written by Ryan Adams and Phil Wandscher. It first appeared on Whiskeytown's Strangers Almanac album, and was released in 1998 as a CD single....
, Billy the Kid (The Lost Cause) and others. He contributed an original electronic score to an off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
production of Dragon Slayers, written by Stanley Keyes
Stanley Keyes
-Career:Stanley Keyes began his theatre career in Baltimore performing various roles at Theatre Hopkins in the early 1970s. It did not take long for him to become associated with Corner Theatre ETC, an experimental theatre also located in Baltimore, where he continued acting as well as trying his...
and directed by Brad Mays
Brad Mays
Brad Mays is an independent filmmaker and stage director, living and working in Los Angeles, California.-Background and education:...
in 1986 at the Union Square Theatre in New York. The production was re-staged with a new cast in Los Angeles in 1990.
A few of the artists Garth performed with in 2006 are Ronnie Hawkins
Ronnie Hawkins
Ronald "Ronnie" Hawkins is a Juno Award-winning rockabilly musician whose career has spanned more than half a century. Though his career began in Arkansas, USA, where he'd been born and raised, it was in Ontario, Canada where he found success and settled for most of his life...
, The Sadies
The Sadies
The Sadies are a Canadian indie rock and alternative country band from Toronto, Ontario.-Background:The band consists of Dallas Good , Travis Good, Sean Dean and Mike Belitsky...
, Neko Case
Neko Case
Neko Case is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her solo career and her contributions as a member of the Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers....
, Heavy Trash
Heavy Trash
Heavy Trash is an American rockabilly band based in New York City, formed by Jon Spencer of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Matt Verta-Ray . The band's music draws from an eclectic mix of genres, including rock & roll, blues, alternative country, Americana and garage punk...
, John Hiatt
John Hiatt
John Hiatt is an American rock guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New Wave, blues and country. Hiatt has been nominated for several Grammy Awards - although he has never won- and has been awarded a variety of other...
, North Mississippi All-Stars, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings are a Canadian folk rock/alternative country band with blues and country influences. The band was formed in 1996, in Hamilton, Ontario, by Tom Wilson, Stephen Fearing, and Colin Linden.-Early Period: 1990s:...
, and Chris Zaloom, some of which were recorded. Hudson and his talent on piano are prominently featured in the 2007 Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
DVD documentary Here Is What Is.
On November 16, 2010, Hudson released Garth Hudson Presents: A Canadian Celebration of The Band. The album features Canadian artists covering songs that were recorded by The Band. Hudson plays on every track and co-produces the album with Peter J. Moore
Peter J. Moore
Peter Joseph Moore is a Canadian music producer who was first recognized for his innovative recordings of the Cowboy Junkies, produced on a shoestring budget.-Early life:...
. Acts that appear on the album include Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
, Bruce Cockburn
Bruce Cockburn
Bruce Douglas Cockburn OC is a Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter. His most recent album was released in March 2011. He has written songs in styles ranging from folk to jazz-influenced rock to rock and roll.-Biography:...
, Blue Rodeo
Blue Rodeo
Blue Rodeo is a Canadian pop and country rock band, which was formed in 1984 in Toronto, Ontario. They have been signed with Warner Music Group since their debut album Outskirts in March 1987...
, Cowboy Junkies
Cowboy Junkies
Cowboy Junkies are a Canadian alternative country/blues/folk rock band. The group was formed in Toronto in 1985 by Margo Timmins , Michael Timmins , Peter Timmins and Alan Anton ....
, The Trews
The Trews
The Trews are a Canadian rock band from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, consisting of vocalist Colin MacDonald, guitarist John-Angus MacDonald, bassist Jack Syperek, and drummer Sean Dalton...
, Great Big Sea
Great Big Sea
Great Big Sea is a Canadian folk-rock band from Newfoundland and Labrador, best known for performing energetic rock interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties, which draw from the island's 500-year-old Irish, English, and French heritage...
, Hawksley Workman
Hawksley Workman
Ryan Corrigan , better known by the stage name Hawksley Workman, is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who has garnered critical acclaim for his blend of cabaret pop and glam rock. Workman has released eleven full length albums throughout his career...
, Mary Margaret O'Hara
Mary Margaret O'Hara
Mary Margaret O'Hara is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress, who has been hailed as one of the greatest cult heroines in rock music despite having released very few of her own recordings. She is best known for the critically acclaimed album Miss America, released in 1988.-Early stages:O'Hara...
, Chantal Kreviazuk
Chantal Kreviazuk
Chantal Jennifer Kreviazuk is a Canadian singer-songwriter of the adult contemporary music genre. She is also a classically trained pianist, and can play the guitar.-Albums:...
, Raine Maida
Raine Maida
Raine Maida , is a Canadian musician best known as being the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band Our Lady Peace. He has come to be known for his unique countertenor nasal falsetto singing voice, as well as his cryptic and poetry-influenced song lyrics...
and Ian Thornley
Ian Thornley
Ian Thornley is a Canadian rock guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter.Born and raised in Toronto, Thornley studied jazz music at Boston's Berklee College of Music in the 1990s, and formed the band Big Wreck in 1993 with classmates David Henning, Brian Doherty, and Forrest Williams. They soon...
.
Discography
| Year | Album | Label | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | The Sea to the North | Woodstock | |
| 2005 | Live at the Wolf | Make It Real | *with Maud Hudson |
| 2005 | Our Lady Queen of the Angels | Other People's Music | *recorded in 1980 |
| 2010 | Garth Hudson Presents: A Canadian Celebration of The Band | Sony Music |
Film credits
Hudson is credited in the following films:- 1978 The Last WaltzThe Last WaltzThe Last Waltz was a concert by the rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco...
(performer) - 1980 Raging Bull (additional music composer)
- 1983 The King of ComedyThe King of Comedy (1983 film)The King of Comedy is a 1983 American dark comedy film starring Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis, and directed by Martin Scorsese. The subject of the movie is celebrity stalking...
(additional music) - 1983 The Right Stuff (additional music composer)
- 1986 Man Outside (actor – Cheney/additional music)
Artists with whom Garth Hudson has performed
- Eric AndersenEric AndersenEric Andersen is an American singer-songwriter.-Biography:In the early 1960s, Eric Andersen was part of the Greenwich Village folk scene in New York...
- North Mississippi AllstarsNorth Mississippi AllstarsNorth Mississippi Allstars is a Southern rock/blues jam band from Hernando, Mississippi, founded in 1996. The band is composed of brothers Luther Dickinson and Cody Dickinson , and Chris Chew...
- Joseph ArthurJoseph ArthurJoseph Arthur is an American singer-songwriter and artist from Akron, Ohio. Combining poetic lyrics with a layered sonic palette, Arthur has built his reputation over the years through critically acclaimed releases and constant touring; his unique solo live performances incorporate the use of a...
& The Lonely AstronautsThe Lonely AstronautsThe Lonely Astronauts is the band originally started as Joseph Arthur's touring band. Joseph and the band have recorded and released two studio albums together thus far, titled Let's Just Be , and Temporary People... - Hoyt AxtonHoyt AxtonHoyt Wayne Axton was an American country music singer-songwriter, and a film and television actor. He became prominent in the early 1960s, establishing himself on the West Coast as a folk singer with an earthy style and powerful voice. As he matured, some of his songwriting efforts became well...
- The BandThe BandThe Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
- Barenaked LadiesBarenaked LadiesBarenaked Ladies is a Canadian alternative rock band. The band is currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart. Barenaked Ladies formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, then a suburban municipality outside the City of Toronto...
- Richard BaroneRichard BaroneRichard Barone is a rock musician born in Tampa, Florida who gained attention as frontman for The Bongos. He works as a songwriter, arranger, author, director, and producer, releases albums as a solo artist, tours, and has created major concert events at Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl and New York's...
- David BrombergDavid BrombergDavid Bromberg is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Bromberg has an eclectic style, playing bluegrass, blues, folk, jazz, country and western, and rock and roll equally well. He is known for his quirky, humorous lyrics, and the ability to play rhythm and lead guitar at the...
- The Weber Brothers
- Burrito DeluxeBurrito DeluxeBurrito Deluxe is the second album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1970. In between The Gilded Palace of Sin and Burrito Deluxe, the band underwent some personnel changes. Bassist Chris Ethridge left the band out of frustration at the band's lack of success...
- Chris CastleChris CastleChris Castle is a folk/Americana singer-songwriter. Cleveland Magazine has described his writing as an "authentic connection to the world-weary soul of American roots music", while The New London Day's Rick Koster calls Castle "a visionary songwriter" and "a tunesmith of almost scary vision,...
- Paul ButterfieldPaul ButterfieldPaul Butterfield was an American blues vocalist and harmonica player, who founded the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the early 1960s and performed at the original Woodstock Festival...
- J. J. Cale
- The CallThe Call (band)The Call was an American rock band from Santa Cruz, California active from 1980 to 2000.-Biography:The Call formed in Santa Cruz in 1980 by vocalist/guitarist Michael Been, Scott Musick, and Tom Ferrier. Been and Musick were originally from Oklahoma...
- Camper Van BeethovenCamper Van BeethovenCamper Van Beethoven is an American alternative rock group formed in Redlands, California in 1983.An eclectic band, Camper Van Beethoven mixes elements of pop, ska, punk rock, folk and alternative country, as well as various types of world music. Their aggressive musical pluralism created a...
- Thumbs Carllile
- Eliza CarthyEliza CarthyEliza Carthy is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson.-Life and career:...
- Neko CaseNeko CaseNeko Case is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her solo career and her contributions as a member of the Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers....
- Blondie ChaplinBlondie ChaplinTerence William 'Blondie' Chaplin is a musician from Durban, South Africa who first became known to international audiences through his brief stint in the early 1970s as a singer and guitarist for The Beach Boys...
- Bobby CharlesBobby CharlesBobby Charles was an American singer-songwriter.An ethnic Cajun, Charles was born as Robert Charles Guidry in Abbeville, Louisiana and grew up listening to Cajun music and the country and western music of Hank Williams...
- Frank ChristianFrank Christian (singer-songwriter)Frank Christian is a Greenwich Village-based singer-songwriter and guitarist. His best known song, "Three Flights Up" was recorded by Nanci Griffith for her Grammy award-winning 1992 release Other Voices, Other Rooms....
- Eric ClaptonEric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
- Leonard CohenLeonard CohenLeonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
- Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
- Rick DankoRick DankoRichard Clare "Rick" Danko was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band.-Early years :...
- Neil DiamondNeil DiamondNeil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
- Dixie Hummingbirds
- DonovanDonovanDonovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
- Dr. JohnDr. JohnMalcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...
- Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
- Jonathan Edwards
- Keith EmersonKeith EmersonKeith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...
- Marianne FaithfullMarianne FaithfullMarianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
- Paul GeremiaPaul GeremiaPaul Geremia is an American blues singer and acoustic guitarist.Geremia recorded his first album in 1968, having been significantly influenced by both the rural blues tradition and the folk music revival of the 1960s...
- Indigo GirlsIndigo GirlsThe Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. They met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area...
- Boris Grebenshikov
- John P. HammondJohn P. HammondJohn Paul Hammond is an American blues singer and guitarist. The son of record producer John H. Hammond, he is sometimes referred to as "John Hammond, Jr.".-Background:...
- Emmylou HarrisEmmylou HarrisEmmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
- Greg Harris
- Ronnie HawkinsRonnie HawkinsRonald "Ronnie" Hawkins is a Juno Award-winning rockabilly musician whose career has spanned more than half a century. Though his career began in Arkansas, USA, where he'd been born and raised, it was in Ontario, Canada where he found success and settled for most of his life...
- Jeff HealeyJeff HealeyNorman Jeffrey "Jeff" Healey was a blind Canadian jazz and blues-rock vocalist and guitarist who attained musical and personal popularity, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
- Levon HelmLevon HelmMark Lavon "Levon" Helm , is an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band....
& the RCO All-Stars 20 - Don HenleyDon HenleyDonald Hugh "Don" Henley is an American singer, songwriter and drummer, best known as a founding member of the Eagles before launching a successful solo career. Henley was the drummer and lead vocalist for the Eagles from 1971–1980, when the band broke up...
- John HeraldJohn HeraldJohn Herald was an American folk and bluegrass songwriter, solo and studio musician, and one-time member of The Greenbriar Boys trio.-Biography:...
- John HiattJohn HiattJohn Hiatt is an American rock guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New Wave, blues and country. Hiatt has been nominated for several Grammy Awards - although he has never won- and has been awarded a variety of other...
- Maud Hudson
- Norah JonesNorah JonesNorah Jones is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress.In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies...
- Tonio K.
- Gipsy KingsGipsy KingsThe Gipsy Kings are a group of musicians from Arles and Montpellier, who perform in Spanish with an Andalucían accent. Although group members were born in France, their parents were mostly gitanos, Spanish Romani people who fled Catalonia during the 1930s Spanish Civil War. Chico Bouchikhi is of...
- Daniel LanoisDaniel LanoisDaniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
- Colin LindenColin LindenColin Linden is a Canadian musician, songwriter and record producer. He has worked with a wide variety of artists including Bruce Cockburn, Lucinda Williams, T-Bone Burnett, Colin James, Leon Redbone, Rita Chiarelli, Chris Thomas King and The Band.Linden is primarily a electric blues guitarist,...
- David LindleyDavid Lindley (musician)David Perry Lindley is an American musician who is notable for his work with Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, and other rock musicians. He has worked extensively in other genres as well, performing with artists as varied as Curtis Mayfield and Dolly Parton...
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- Jackie LomaxJackie LomaxJohn Richard 'Jackie' Lomax is a British guitarist and singer/songwriter best known for his association with George Harrison and Eric Clapton...
- Lyle LovettLyle LovettLyle Pearce Lovett is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded thirteen albums and released 21 singles to date, including his highest entry, the number 10 chart hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, "Cowboy Man"...
- Suzie McNeilSuzie McNeilSusan Jane "Suzie" McNeil is a Canadian pop rock recording artist.-Early life:McNeil was born in Mississauga, Ontario. She has a sister, Laura Norris, a teacher at a public high school in Toronto.-Rock Star: INXS:...
- Joni MitchellJoni MitchellJoni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
- Scotty MooreScotty MooreWinfield Scott "Scotty" Moore III is an American guitarist. He is best known for his backing of Elvis Presley in the first part of his career, between 1954 and the beginning of Elvis' Hollywood years...
& D. J. FontanaD. J. FontanaDominic Joseph Fontana is an American musician best known as the drummer for Elvis Presley for 14 years. He played on over 460 RCA cuts with Elvis.... - Van MorrisonVan MorrisonVan Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
- Charlie MusselwhiteCharlie MusselwhiteCharlie Musselwhite is an American electric blues harmonica player and bandleader, one of the non-black bluesmen who came to prominence in the early 1960s, along with Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield. Though he has often been identified as a "white bluesman", he claims Native American heritage...
- David OlneyDavid OlneyDavid Charles Olney is an American folk singer/songwriter. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill but did not graduate, instead joining Bland Simpson's band Simpson in the early 1970s...
- Robert Palmer
- Graham ParkerGraham ParkerGraham Parker is a British rock singer and songwriter, who is best known as the lead singer of the popular British band Graham Parker & the Rumour.-Early career :...
- Jaco Pastorious
- Pinetop PerkinsPinetop PerkinsJoseph William Perkins , known by the stage name Pinetop Perkins, was an American blues musician, specializing in piano music...
- Sarah PerrottaSarah PerrottaSarah Perrotta is a Hudson Valley based singer, songwriter and pianist. Perrotta was the front woman of the indie-rock band Outloud Dreamer whose debut album “Drink The Sky” was named best modern rock album of 2000 by WKZE Radio 98.1FM. Perrotta’s second album “The Well” was self-released in...
- Tom PettyTom PettyThomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
& the Heartbreakers
- The Northern PikesThe Northern PikesThe Northern Pikes are a Canadian rock band formed in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 1984. The original members were Bryan Potvin, Jay Semko, Merl Bryck and Glen Hollingshead. Hollingshead left the band in 1985, and was replaced by Don Schmid in 1986...
- PocoPocoPoco is an Southern California country rock band originally formed by Richie Furay and Jim Messina following the demise of Buffalo Springfield in 1968. The title of their first album, Pickin' Up the Pieces, is a reference to the break-up of Buffalo Springfield. Highly influential and creative,...
- Mercury RevMercury RevMercury Rev is an American alternative rock group, that formed in the late 1980s in Buffalo, New York. Original personnel were David Baker , Jonathan Donahue , Sean Mackowiak, a.k.a...
- Robbie RobertsonRobbie RobertsonRobbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
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- Michelle ShockedMichelle ShockedMichelle Shocked is the stage name of Michelle Karen Johnston, an American singer-songwriter.-History:Shocked received her first international exposure in Europe, particularly Britain, with her debut album The Texas Campfire Tapes .Her first U.S...
- John SimonJohn Simon (record producer)John Simon is an American musician, record producer, and composer. He is best known for his work with The Band as producer and musician on Music from Big Pink and The Band.-Biography:...
- The Staple SingersThe Staple SingersThe Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples , the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha , Pervis , Yvonne , and Mavis...
- Jo-el SonnierJo-El SonnierJo-El Sonnier is an American singer-songwriter and accordionist who performs country music and Cajun music. Originally signed to Mercury Nashville Records, Sonnier charted several minor singles on the Billboard country charts in the late 1970s...
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- Richard Thompson
- Teddy ThompsonTeddy ThompsonTeddy Thompson is a British folk and rock musician. He is the son of folk-rock musicians Richard and Linda Thompson and brother of singer Kamila Thompson...
- Libby TitusLibby TitusLibby Titus is a singer, songwriter, actress and concert producer. Although she released several solo albums in the 1970s and '80s, she is best known as the co-writer, with Eric Kaz, of "Love Has No Pride", a song recorded by many artists including Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt and Jane Monheit.She...
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- Joe WalshJoe WalshJoseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...
- Muddy WatersMuddy WatersMcKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
- Roger WatersRoger WatersGeorge Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
- WilcoWilcoWilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup has changed frequently, with only singer Jeff Tweedy and bassist John...
See also
- Keyboard Magazine – "Garth Hudson: Legendary Organist with '60s Supergroup The Band" December 1983