The Band
Encyclopedia
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock
group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko
(bass guitar, double bass, fiddle, trombone, vocals), Garth Hudson
(keyboard instruments, saxophones, trumpet), Richard Manuel
(piano, drums, baritone saxophone, vocals), and Robbie Robertson
(guitar, vocals), and Levon Helm
(drums, mandolin, guitar, vocals). All five members were notable musicians in their own right.
The members of the Band first came together as they joined rockabilly
singer Ronnie Hawkins
's backing group, The Hawks
, one by one between 1958 and 1963. Upon leaving Hawkins in 1964, they were briefly known as the Levon Helm Sextet with sax player Jerry Penfound being the sixth member, then Levon and the Hawks after Penfound's departure. In 1965, they released a single on Ware Records under the name Canadian Squires, but returned as Levon and the Hawks for a recording session for Atco
later in 1965. At about the same time, Bob Dylan
recruited Helm and Robertson for two concerts, then the entire group for his U.S. tour in 1965 and world tour in 1966. They also joined him on the informal recordings that later became The Basement Tapes
.
Because they were always "the band" to various frontmen, Helm said the name "The Band" worked well when the group came into its own and left Saugerties, New York
, to begin recording their own material. They recorded two of the most acclaimed albums of the late 1960s: their 1968 debut Music from Big Pink
(featuring the single
"The Weight
") and 1969's The Band
. In 2004, "The Weight" was ranked the 41st best song of all time in Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
list.
The Band broke up in 1976, but reformed in 1983 without founding guitar
ist Robbie Robertson
. They were recorded live in concert at Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Theatre that year, assisted by four extra musicians. It was their first taped performance since The Last Waltz
. That show has been released as The Band Reunion and The Band is Back in 59 and 87 minute versions.
Although the Band was always more popular with music journalists and fellow musicians than with the general public, they have remained an admired and influential group. The group was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame
in 1989 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
in 1994. In 2004, Rolling Stone
ranked them #50 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, and in 2008, they received the Grammy's Lifetime Achievement Award.
and early rock and roll
, though the rhythm section
often was reminiscent of Stax
or Motown, and Robertson cites Curtis Mayfield
and the Staple Singers as major influences, resulting in a synthesis of many musical genres. As to the group's songwriting, very few of their early compositions were based on conventional blues
and doo-wop
chord change
s.
Every member was a multi-instrumentalist. There was little instrument-switching when they played live, but when recording, the musicians could make up different configurations in service of the songs. Hudson in particular was able to coax a wide range of timbre
s from his Lowrey organ
; on the choruses of "Tears of Rage
", for example, it sounds like a mellotron
. Helm's drumming was often praised: critic Jon Carroll declared that Helm was "the only drummer who can make you cry," while prolific session drummer Jim Keltner
admits to appropriating several of Helm's techniques.
Singers Manuel, Danko, and Helm each brought a distinctive voice to the Band: Helm's southern
voice had more than a hint of country
, Danko sang in a tenor, and Manuel alternated between falsetto and baritone. The singers regularly blended in harmonies. Though the singing was more or less evenly shared among the three men, both Danko and Helm have stated that they saw Manuel as the Band's "lead" singer.
Robertson was the group's chief songwriter, but he sang lead vocals on only three studio songs released by the Band ("To Kingdom Come", "Knockin' Lost John" and "Out Of The Blue"). This role, and Robertson's resulting claim to the copyright of most of the compositions, would later become a point of much antagonism, especially that directed towards Robertson by Helm, who, in his autobiography This Wheel's on Fire – Levon Helm and the Story of The Band, disputes the validity of Robertson's place as chief songwriter, as the Band's songs were often honed and recorded through collaboration between all members. Robertson for his part angrily denied that Helm had written any of the songs attributed to Robertson and his daughter later pointed out in a letter to the Los Angeles Times that Levon Helm's solo work consists almost entirely of songs written by others. Strains appeared in the 1980s, when the bulk of songwriting royalties were going to Robertson alone while the others had to rely on income from touring. This had not arisen as an issue in the late sixties and early seventies, when a number of Band songs, mostly credited to Robertson alone, were covered successfully by other artists - such as Smith's
version of "The Weight
" for the Easy Rider soundtrack LP and Joan Baez
's cover of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
" in 1971.
Producer John Simon
is cited as a "sixth member" of the Band for producing and playing on Music from Big Pink
, co-producing and playing on The Band
, and playing on other songs up through the Band's 1993 reunion album Jericho
.
-based, rockabilly
singer Ronnie Hawkins
's backing group, the Hawks: Helm, an original Hawk who journeyed with Hawkins from Arkansas
to Ontario, then Robertson, Danko, Manuel and finally, Hudson. Hawkins's act was popular in and around Toronto and he had an effective way of eliminating his musical competition: When a promising band appeared, Hawkins would often hire their best musicians for his own group; Robertson, Danko, and Manuel came under Hawkins' tutelage this way.
While most of the Hawks were eager to join Hawkins's group, getting Hudson to join was a different story. He'd earned a college degree, planned on a career as a music teacher and was interested in playing rock music only as a hobby. The Hawks were in awe of his wild, full-bore organ sound and often begged him to join. Hudson finally relented, so long as the Hawks each paid him $10 per week to be their instructor; all music theory questions were directed to Hudson. While pocketing a little extra cash, Hudson was also able to mollify his family's fears that his education had gone to waste. The piano-organ combination was uncommon in rock music, and for all his aggressive playing, Hudson also brought a level of musical sophistication.
With Hawkins, they recorded a few singles in this period and became well known as the best rock group in the thriving Toronto music scene. Hawkins regularly convened all-night rehearsals following long club shows, with the result that the young musicians quickly developed great technical prowess on their instruments.
By 1964, the group had split from Hawkins over personal differences. They were tiring of playing the same songs so often and wanted to perform original material, and they were weary of Hawkins's somewhat dictatorial leadership. He would fine the Hawks if they brought their girlfriends to the clubs, fearing it might reduce the numbers of available girls who came to performances, or if they smoked marijuana. Alcohol and pills were acceptable but Canada then had stiff penalties against marijuana possession.
Robertson later said, "Eventually, [Hawkins] built us up to the point where we outgrew his music and had to leave. He shot himself in the foot, really, bless his heart, by sharpening us into such a crackerjack band that we had to go on out into the world, because we knew what his vision was for himself, and we were all younger and more ambitious musically."
They recorded two singles and toured frequently, usually billed as Levon and the Hawks, but found little success, partly because without Hawkins, they lacked a magnetic frontman.
In 1963, Levon Helm met the groupie
Cathy Smith
, with whom he and other members of the Band would have a long association.
In 1965, Helm and the band met blues singer and harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson
. They wanted to record with him, offering to become his backing band, but Williamson died not long after their meeting.
was looking for a backup band for his first U.S. "electric" tour. Levon and the Hawks were recommended by blues singer John Hammond
, who earlier that year had used Helm, Hudson and Robertson on his Vanguard
album So Many Roads. Around the same time, one of their friends from Toronto was working as secretary to Dylan's manager Albert Grossman
. Mary Martin, told Dylan to visit the group at the Yonge Street
club called the Le Coq d'Or Tavern – though Robbie Robertson
recollects it was the Friar's Tavern, just down the street. Her advice to Dylan: "You gotta see these guys."
After hearing the band play and meeting with Robertson, Dylan invited Helm and Robertson to join his backing band. After two concerts backing Dylan, Helm and Robertson told Dylan of their loyalty to their bandmates, and told him that they would only continue with him if he hired all of the Hawks. Dylan accepted and invited Levon and the Hawks to tour with him. The group was receptive to the offer, knowing it could give them the wider exposure they craved, but they simultaneously feared that their music was too different from his. They thought of themselves as a tightly rehearsed rock and rhythm and blues
group and knew Dylan mostly from his early acoustic folk and protest music. Furthermore, they had little inkling of how internationally popular Dylan had become.
With Dylan, they played a tumultuous series of concerts from September 1965 through May 1966, marking Dylan's final transition from folkie to rocker. The tours, among the most storied in rock history, were also marked by Dylan's reportedly copious use of methamphetamines. Some, though not all, of the Hawks joined in the excesses. Most of the concerts were also met with the heckling of folk music
purists. Helm was so affected by the negative reception that he left the tour within three months and sat out the rest of that year's concerts, as well as the world tour in 1966. Helm spent much of this period working on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
During and between tours, Dylan and the Hawks attempted several recording sessions, but with less than satisfying results. Sessions in October and November yielded just one usable single ("Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window"), and two days of recording in January 1966 for what was intended to be Dylan's next album, Blonde on Blonde
, were equally unsuccessful. However, by the time the album's sessions were switched from Columbia's New York studios to Nashville, Robertson had replaced Mike Bloomfield
as Dylan's primary guitarist. The other members of the Hawks were not invited to Nashville, though Blonde on Blondes credits also list Danko on bass and Hudson on keyboards and sax.
With Mickey Jones
on drums (replacing Sandy Konikoff, who had taken over when Levon Helm departed), Dylan and the Hawks appeared at Free Trade Hall
in Manchester
, England
, in May 1966. The gig became legendary when, near the end of Dylan's electric set, an audience member shouted "Judas
!". After a pause, Dylan replied, "I don't believe you. You're a liar!" He then turned to the Hawks and said "Play it fucking loud!" With that, they launched into an acidic version of "Like a Rolling Stone
".
The Manchester performance was widely bootleg
ged (and mistakenly placed at the Royal Albert Hall
). The recording of this gig became one of the most famous of Dylan's career, often inspiring a rapturous response in those who heard it. A 1971 review from Creem
stated "My response is that crystallization of everything that is rock'n'roll music, at its finest, was to allow my jaw to drop, my body to move, to leap out of the chair ... It is an experience that one desires simply to share, to play over and over again for those he knows thirst for such pleasure. If I speak in an almost worshipful sense about this music, it is not because I have lost perspective, it is precisely because I have found it, within music, yes, that was made five years ago. But it is there and unignorable." When it finally saw official release in 1998, critic Richie Unterberger
declared the record "an important document of rock history."
On July 29, 1966, while on a break from touring, Dylan was injured in a motorcycle accident, and retired into semi-seclusion in Woodstock, New York
. For a while, the Hawks returned to the bar and roadhouse touring circuit, sometimes backing other singers (including a brief stint with Tiny Tim
). Dylan invited the Hawks to join him in Woodstock, where they recorded a much-bootlegged and influential series of demos, subsequently released on LP as The Basement Tapes
.
(near Woodstock). When they went into the recording studio, they still did not have a name for themselves. Stories vary as to the manner in which they ultimately adopted the name "The Band." In The Last Waltz, Manuel claimed that they wanted to call themselves either "The Honkies
" or "The Crackers", but these names were vetoed by their record label; Robertson suggests that during their time with Dylan everyone just referred to them as "the band" and it stuck. Initially, they disliked the moniker, but eventually grew to like it, thinking it both humble and presumptuous. Rolling Stone
referred to them as "The band from Big Pink."
Their first album, Music from Big Pink
(1968) was widely acclaimed. The album included three songs written or co-written by Dylan ("This Wheel's on Fire
", "Tears of Rage
", and "I Shall Be Released
") as well as "The Weight
", the use of which in the film Easy Rider
would make it probably their best known song. While a continuity certainly ran through the music, there were stylistic leanings in a number of directions. Never a specifically "psychedelic
" group, the Band's first record did contain at least one song ("Chest Fever") demonstrating some similarities with that genre. In contrast to his wild guitar playing with Hawkins and Dylan, Robertson opted for a more subdued, riff-oriented approach, often mixed low down in the song.
After the success of Big Pink, the band went on tour, including a performance at the Woodstock Festival
(which was not included in the famed Woodstock
film due to legal complications) and an appearance with Dylan at the UK Isle of Wight Festival
(several songs from which were subsequently included on Dylan's Self Portrait
album). That same year, they left for Los Angeles
to record their follow-up, The Band
(1969). From their deliberately rustic appearance on the cover, to the songs and arrangements within, the album stood in contrast to other popular music of the day. Although it should be noted that, by this point, several acts, notably Dylan on John Wesley Harding
and The Byrds
on Sweetheart of the Rodeo
, had made similar stylistic moves. The Band featured songs that evoked oldtime rural America, from the civil war
in "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
" to unionization of farm workers in "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
".
These first two records were produced by John Simon
, who was practically a group member: he aided in arrangements
, and played occasional instruments (piano or tuba
). Simon reported that he was often asked about the distinctive horn section
s featured so effectively on the first two albums: people wanted to know how they had achieved such memorable sounds. Simon stated that, besides Hudson (an accomplished saxophonist), the others had only rudimentary horn skills, and achieved their sound simply by creatively utilizing their limited technique.
Rolling Stone
lavished praise on the Band in this era, giving them more attention than perhaps any other group in the magazine's history; Greil Marcus's articles in particular contributed greatly to the Band's mystique. The Band was also featured on the cover of Time
s January 12, 1970 issue.
A critical and commercial triumph, The Band, along with works by The Byrds
and The Flying Burrito Brothers
, established a musical template (sometimes dubbed country rock
) that later would be taken to even greater levels of commercial success by such artists as the Eagles. Both Big Pink and The Band also influenced their musical contemporaries, with both Eric Clapton
and George Harrison
citing the Band as a major influence on their musical direction in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Indeed, Clapton later revealed that he had wanted to join the group.
(1970) was engineered by musician/engineer/producer Todd Rundgren
and recorded on a theatre stage in Woodstock, New York, but the fraying of the group's once-fabled unity was beginning to show. As was the case with their previous, self-titled record, Robertson contributed the majority of the songwriting. However, the trademark vocal style of the Band's three lead singers was much less prominent on this work.
After recording Stage Fright, the Band was among the acts participating in the Festival Express
, an all-star rock concert tour of Canada by train that also included Janis Joplin
and the Grateful Dead
. In the concert documentary film, released in 2003, Danko can be seen intoxicated participating in a drunken jam session with Jerry Garcia
, Bob Weir
and Joplin while singing "Ain't No More Cane."
At about this time, Robertson began exerting greater control over the Band. This has become a point of antipathy, especially between Helm and Robertson. Helm charges Robertson with authoritarianism and greed, while Robertson suggests his increased efforts in guiding the group were due largely to some of the other members being unreliable. In particular, Robertson insists he did his best to coax Manuel into writing or co-writing more songs, only to see Manuel's talents overtaken by addiction.
Despite mounting problems between the musicians, the Band forged ahead with their next album, Cahoots (1971). Cahoots included tunes such as Bob Dylan
's "When I Paint My Masterpiece," "4% Pantomime" (with Van Morrison
), and "Life Is A Carnival," the last featuring a horn arrangement from Allen Toussaint
. Toussaint's contribution was a critical addition to the Band's next project.
One of their most notable later albums is the live recording Rock of Ages
(1972), recorded at a 1971/1972 New Year's Eve
concert and featuring the line-up, bolstered by the addition of a horn section
, in exuberant form. The horn arrangements were written by Allen Toussaint. Bob Dylan appeared on stage for the concert's final four songs, including a version of the rare song "When I Paint My Masterpiece".
In 1973, the Band released Moondog Matinee
, an album of cover songs. There was no tour in support of the album, which garnered mixed reviews. However, they did open for the Grateful Dead for two summer shows at Roosevelt Stadium
in Jersey City, New Jersey
. They also played at the legendary Summer Jam at Watkins Glen
. This massive concert took place at the Grand Prix Raceway outside Watkins Glen, New York
on July 28, 1973. The festival, which was attended by over 600,000 music fans, also featured the Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers Band
.
Next, the Band reunited with Dylan, first in recording Dylan's album Planet Waves
, released in January 1974, and then for the Bob Dylan and The Band 1974 Tour
, which played 40 shows in North America during January and February 1974. Later that year, the live album Before the Flood
was released, documenting the tour.
In 1975, now relocated to California and having built their own studio, Shangri-La, The Band released Northern Lights - Southern Cross
, their first album of all-new material since 1971's Cahoots. All eight songs were written exclusively by Robertson. Despite poor record sales (due to the elongated period of inactivity by the band) the album is favored by critics and fans alike. Levon Helm regards this album highly in his book, This Wheel's on Fire
: "It was the best album we had done since The Band." Highlights from the album included the Helm sung New Orleans sounding "Ophelia" and Rick Danko's emotionally driven vocal on "It Makes no Difference," both of which were performed live in The Last Waltz
. Another notable song from the album was the epic story "Acadian Driftwood
" which was also performed at the Last Waltz, but not included in the movie. The album also produced more experimentation from Hudson switching to synthesizers, heavily showcased on "Jupiter Hollow."
By 1976, Robbie Robertson was weary of touring. After having to cancel some tour dates due to Richard Manuel suffering a severe neck injury in a boating accident in Texas, Robertson urged the Band to retire from touring, and conceived of a massive Thanksgiving Day
concert on November 25, 1976 at the Winterland Ballroom
in San Francisco, California
. The concert featured a horn section
with arrangements by Allen Toussaint
and a stellar list of guests, including other Canadian acts Joni Mitchell
and Neil Young
. Two of the guests were fundamental to The Band's existence and growth: Ronnie Hawkins
and Bob Dylan
. Other guests they admired (and in most cases had worked with before) included Muddy Waters
, Dr. John
, Van Morrison
, Ringo Starr
, Eric Clapton
, Ronnie Wood, Paul Butterfield
, and Neil Diamond
.
The concert was directed and filmed by Martin Scorsese
. Concert footage and interviews with the band members and friends were combined with soundstage performances with country singer Emmylou Harris
("Evangeline") and gospel-soul group The Staple Singers
("The Weight"). The resulting concert film
-documentary
was released in 1978, as was a triple-LP soundtrack.
was the last with The Band's classic lineup. It contained a mix of originals and covers.
While the reunited Band was touring, on March 4, 1986, Manuel committed suicide
in his Florida
motel room. It was revealed later that he had suffered for many years from chronic alcoholism. According to Levon Helm's autobiography, in the later stages of his illness, Manuel was consuming eight bottles of Grand Marnier
per day.
Helm, Danko and Hudson played in the 1989 version of Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band performing The Weight
and Up On Cripple Creek
.
The band participated in former Pink Floyd
member Roger Waters
' The Wall Live in Berlin concert in 1990, and in Bob Dylan's 30th anniversary concert
celebration in New York City in October 1992. The group was the opening band for the final Grateful Dead
shows at Soldier Field
, in Chicago
, Illinois
in July 1995.
Richard Manuel's position as pianist was filled first by old friend Stan Szelest (who died not long after), then by Richard Bell
. (Bell played with Ronnie Hawkins after the departure of the original Hawks, and was best known from his days as a member of Janis Joplin's Full Tilt Boogie Band
.) The reformed group recorded Jericho
in 1993 with much of the songwriting being handled outside the group. Two more post-reunion efforts followed, High on the Hog and Jubilation, the latter including guest appearances from Eric Clapton
and John Hiatt
.
The Juno Awards of 1989
hosted a special reunion of several band members when The Band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame
. This was also the year that Robbie Robertson
won three awards for his self titled album. With Canadian country rock superstars Blue Rodeo
as a back-up band, Music Express
called the 1989 Juno appearance with Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko
, and Garth Hudson
a symbolic "passing of the torch" from The Band to Blue Rodeo
.
In 1994 Robertson appeared with Danko and Hudson as The Band for the second time since the original group broke up. The occasion was the induction of The Band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
. Helm, who has feuded with Robertson for years over accusations of stolen songwriting credits, did not attend.
On December 10, 1999, another member was lost when Rick Danko died in his sleep at the age of 55. Following his death, The Band broke up for good.
Richard Bell
, The Band's late-period keyboardist, passed away due to multiple myeloma
in June of 2007.
The Band received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award
on February 9, 2008 but there was no reunion of all three living members. In honor of the event, Helm held a "Midnight Ramble" in Woodstock, NY.
Robertson became a music producer and wrote movie soundtracks (including acting as music supervisor for several of Scorsese's films) before a highly praised comeback with a Daniel Lanois
produced, eponymous solo album in 1987. He released a second solo album, Storyville
, in 1991 and another album in 2010. He also released a newly remixed version of the already heavily overdubbed The Last Waltz.
Helm received many plaudits for his acting debut in Coal Miner's Daughter
, a biographical film about Loretta Lynn
, and for his narration and small supporting role opposite Sam Shepard
in 1983's The Right Stuff. He has appeared in small roles in a number of other films.
After the breakup of the Band, in the late 70s and 80s Helm released several solo albums and toured with a band called Levon Helm and the RCO Allstars. In 2007 Helm released a new album, a homage to his southern roots called Dirt Farmer
, which was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album
on February 9, 2008. Electric Dirt
followed in 2009 which also won a "Best Album" Grammy Award. Helm regularly performs concerts at his barn studio in Woodstock, New York and tours. At Helm's encouragement, Capital has re-released the first three the Band albums as a set.
In 1984, Rick Danko joined members of the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers and others in the huge touring company that made up "The Byrds Twenty-Year Celebration." Several members of the band performed solo songs to start the show including Danko who performed "Mystery Train". Danko also released a number of solo albums.
Hudson played keyboards on the first three albums by The Call
. Hudson has released two acclaimed solo CDs, The Sea To The North in 2001, and LIVE at the WOLF in 2005, both featuring his wife, Maud, on vocals. He has also kept busy as an in-demand studio musician. He is featured extensively on recordings of Country/Indie star Neko Case. Hudson 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, which was re-staged with a new cast in Los Angeles in 1990.
and The Beatles
to Eric Clapton
, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Led Zeppelin
, and Elvis Costello
.
The album Music from Big Pink
, in particular, is credited with contributing to Clapton's decision to leave the super group
Cream
. In his introduction of The Band during the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert, Clapton announced that in 1968 he'd heard the album, "and it changed my life", he said. Guitarist Richard Thompson has openly acknowledged the album's influence on Fairport Convention
's Liege and Lief, and journalist John Harris has suggested that The Band's debut also influenced the spirit of The Beatles' back-to-basics album Let It Be as well as The Rolling Stones' string of roots-infused albums that began with Beggars Banquet
. Meanwhile, the Big Pink song "The Weight
" has been covered numerous times, and in various musical styles.
In the nineties, a new generation of bands influenced by The Band began to gain popularity, including Counting Crows
and The Black Crowes
. Counting Crows indicated this influence with their tribute to the late Richard Manuel
, "If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)
" from their album Hard Candy. The Black Crowes frequently cover Band songs during live performances, such as "The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down", which appears on their DVD Freak 'n' Roll into the Fog
. They have also recorded at Helm's studio in Woodstock.
Chicago's Umphrey's McGee
has covered both "Ophelia" and "Don't Do It
". Both were covered for the first time at their New Year's Eve concert from 2004, Wrapped Around Chicago. "Ophelia" appears on that release. They have also covered "The Weight" twice with Huey Lewis
on vocals.
Southern-based "jam band
" Widespread Panic
has covered "Ophelia" consistently from 1987 to 2007, and in 2006 they began covering "Chest Fever
" as well.
In 2004 southern rock
-revivalists Drive-By Truckers
released the track "Danko/Manuel" on the album The Dirty South
.
The inspiration for the classic rock-influenced band The Hold Steady
came while members Craig Finn and Tad Kubler were watching The Last Waltz
. Rick Danko and Robbie Robertson are namechecked in the lyrics of "The Swish" from The Hold Steady's 2004 debut album Almost Killed Me
.
In January 2007, a tribute album
, entitled Endless Highway: The Music of The Band
, was released which included contributions by My Morning Jacket
, Death Cab for Cutie
, Gomez
, Guster
, Bruce Hornsby
, Jack Johnson
and ALO
, Leanne Womack, The Allman Brothers Band
, Blues Traveler
, Jakob Dylan
, and Rosanne Cash
, amongst others.
In June, 2010, jam band Phish
covered "Look out Cleveland" to open a show at Blossom Music Center outside of Cleveland, OH.
The 2010 Dukes of September Rhythm Revue tour (Donald Fagen
, Boz Scaggs
and Michael McDonald
) features a mini-tribute to The Band including Caldonia Mission (Fagen), Rag Mama Rag (Scaggs) and The Shape I'm In (McDonald) in the middle of the set.
with Bob Dylan
with Bob Dylan
Roots rock
Roots rock is a term now used to describe rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid sub-genres from the later 1960s including country rock and Southern rock, which have been seen as responses to the...
group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko
Rick Danko
Richard Clare "Rick" Danko was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band.-Early years :...
(bass guitar, double bass, fiddle, trombone, vocals), Garth Hudson
Garth Hudson
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...
(keyboard instruments, saxophones, trumpet), 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....
(piano, drums, baritone saxophone, vocals), and 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...
(guitar, vocals), 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....
(drums, mandolin, guitar, vocals). All five members were notable musicians in their own right.
The members of the Band first came together as they joined rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
singer 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...
's backing group, The Hawks
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...
, one by one between 1958 and 1963. Upon leaving Hawkins in 1964, they were briefly known as the Levon Helm Sextet with sax player Jerry Penfound being the sixth member, then Levon and the Hawks after Penfound's departure. In 1965, they released a single on Ware Records under the name Canadian Squires, but returned as Levon and the Hawks for a recording session for Atco
Atco Records
ATCO Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, currently operating through WMG's Rhino Entertainment.-Beginnings:Atco Records was founded in 1955 as a division of Atlantic Records. It was devised as an outlet for productions by one of Atlantic's founders, Herb Abramson, who...
later in 1965. At about the same time, 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...
recruited Helm and Robertson for two concerts, then the entire group for his U.S. tour in 1965 and world tour in 1966. They also joined him on the informal recordings that later became 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...
.
Because they were always "the band" to various frontmen, Helm said the name "The Band" worked well when the group came into its own and left 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....
, to begin recording their own material. They recorded two of the most acclaimed albums of the late 1960s: their 1968 debut 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...
(featuring the single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"The Weight
The Weight
"The Weight" is a song written by Robbie Robertson. It was released by The Band as Capitol Records single 2269 in 1968, and appeared one week later on the group's debut album Music from Big Pink. The song is listed as #41 on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of All Time published in 2004, and...
") and 1969's 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 :...
. In 2004, "The Weight" was ranked the 41st best song of all time in Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" was the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone, issue number 963, published December 9, 2004, a year after the magazine published its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"....
list.
The Band broke up in 1976, but reformed in 1983 without founding guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist 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...
. They were recorded live in concert at Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Theatre that year, assisted by four extra musicians. It was their first taped performance since 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...
. That show has been released as The Band Reunion and The Band is Back in 59 and 87 minute versions.
Although the Band was always more popular with music journalists and fellow musicians than with the general public, they have remained an admired and influential group. The group was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame
Canadian Music Hall of Fame
The Canadian Music Hall of Fame honors Canadian musicians for their lifetime achievements in music. The ceremony is held each year as part of the Juno Award ceremonies. Members of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame represent many of the world's great talents...
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. In 2004, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
ranked them #50 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, and in 2008, they received the Grammy's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Overview
The Band's music fused many elements: primarily old country musicCountry music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
and early 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...
, though the rhythm section
Rhythm section
A rhythm section is a collection of musicians who make up a section of instruments which provides the accompaniment section of the music, giving the music its rhythmic texture and pulse, also serving as a rhythmic reference for the rest of the band...
often was reminiscent of Stax
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...
or Motown, and Robertson cites Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...
and the Staple Singers as major influences, resulting in a synthesis of many musical genres. As to the group's songwriting, very few of their early compositions were based on conventional blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and doo-wop
Doo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
chord change
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
s.
Every member was a multi-instrumentalist. There was little instrument-switching when they played live, but when recording, the musicians could make up different configurations in service of the songs. Hudson in particular was able to coax a wide range of timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
s from his 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....
; on the choruses of "Tears of Rage
Tears of Rage
"Tears of Rage" is a song written by Bob Dylan and Richard Manuel, the former writing the lyrics and the melody being provided by the latter.-Initial recordings:...
", for example, it sounds like a mellotron
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
. Helm's drumming was often praised: critic Jon Carroll declared that Helm was "the only drummer who can make you cry," while prolific session drummer Jim Keltner
Jim Keltner
James Lee "Jim" Keltner is an American drummer known primarily for his session work. He has contributed to the work of many well-known artists...
admits to appropriating several of Helm's techniques.
Singers Manuel, Danko, and Helm each brought a distinctive voice to the Band: Helm's southern
Southern American English
Southern American English is a group of dialects of the English language spoken throughout the Southern region of the United States, from Southern and Eastern Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky to the Gulf Coast, and from the Atlantic coast to most of Texas and Oklahoma.The Southern dialects make...
voice had more than a hint of country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, Danko sang in a tenor, and Manuel alternated between falsetto and baritone. The singers regularly blended in harmonies. Though the singing was more or less evenly shared among the three men, both Danko and Helm have stated that they saw Manuel as the Band's "lead" singer.
Robertson was the group's chief songwriter, but he sang lead vocals on only three studio songs released by the Band ("To Kingdom Come", "Knockin' Lost John" and "Out Of The Blue"). This role, and Robertson's resulting claim to the copyright of most of the compositions, would later become a point of much antagonism, especially that directed towards Robertson by Helm, who, in his autobiography This Wheel's on Fire – Levon Helm and the Story of The Band, disputes the validity of Robertson's place as chief songwriter, as the Band's songs were often honed and recorded through collaboration between all members. Robertson for his part angrily denied that Helm had written any of the songs attributed to Robertson and his daughter later pointed out in a letter to the Los Angeles Times that Levon Helm's solo work consists almost entirely of songs written by others. Strains appeared in the 1980s, when the bulk of songwriting royalties were going to Robertson alone while the others had to rely on income from touring. This had not arisen as an issue in the late sixties and early seventies, when a number of Band songs, mostly credited to Robertson alone, were covered successfully by other artists - such as Smith's
Smith (band)
Smith were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1969. They had a blues based sound and had a Top 5 hit in 1969 with a cover of the song "Baby It's You", with the lead vocals sung by Gayle McCormick...
version of "The Weight
The Weight
"The Weight" is a song written by Robbie Robertson. It was released by The Band as Capitol Records single 2269 in 1968, and appeared one week later on the group's debut album Music from Big Pink. The song is listed as #41 on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of All Time published in 2004, and...
" for the Easy Rider soundtrack LP and Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
's cover of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" is a song written by Canadian musician Robbie Robertson, first recorded by The Band in 1969 and released on their self-titled second album. Joan Baez' cover of the song was a top-five chart hit in late 1971....
" in 1971.
Producer John Simon
John 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:...
is cited as a "sixth member" of the Band for producing and playing on 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...
, co-producing and playing on 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 :...
, and playing on other songs up through the Band's 1993 reunion album Jericho
Jericho (album)
-The Band:*Rick Danko: Bass guitar, guitars, fiddle, trombone, keyboards, vocals.*Levon Helm: Drums, percussion, mandolin, guitar, vocals.*Garth Hudson: Organ, keyboards, accordion, electric piano, saxophones, synthesizers, horns....
.
Early years: The Hawks
The members of The Band gradually came together as a part of TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
-based, rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
singer 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...
's backing group, the Hawks: Helm, an original Hawk who journeyed with Hawkins from Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
to Ontario, then Robertson, Danko, Manuel and finally, Hudson. Hawkins's act was popular in and around Toronto and he had an effective way of eliminating his musical competition: When a promising band appeared, Hawkins would often hire their best musicians for his own group; Robertson, Danko, and Manuel came under Hawkins' tutelage this way.
While most of the Hawks were eager to join Hawkins's group, getting Hudson to join was a different story. He'd earned a college degree, planned on a career as a music teacher and was interested in playing rock music only as a hobby. The Hawks were in awe of his wild, full-bore organ sound and often begged him to join. Hudson finally relented, so long as the Hawks each paid him $10 per week to be their instructor; all music theory questions were directed to Hudson. While pocketing a little extra cash, Hudson was also able to mollify his family's fears that his education had gone to waste. The piano-organ combination was uncommon in rock music, and for all his aggressive playing, Hudson also brought a level of musical sophistication.
With Hawkins, they recorded a few singles in this period and became well known as the best rock group in the thriving Toronto music scene. Hawkins regularly convened all-night rehearsals following long club shows, with the result that the young musicians quickly developed great technical prowess on their instruments.
By 1964, the group had split from Hawkins over personal differences. They were tiring of playing the same songs so often and wanted to perform original material, and they were weary of Hawkins's somewhat dictatorial leadership. He would fine the Hawks if they brought their girlfriends to the clubs, fearing it might reduce the numbers of available girls who came to performances, or if they smoked marijuana. Alcohol and pills were acceptable but Canada then had stiff penalties against marijuana possession.
Robertson later said, "Eventually, [Hawkins] built us up to the point where we outgrew his music and had to leave. He shot himself in the foot, really, bless his heart, by sharpening us into such a crackerjack band that we had to go on out into the world, because we knew what his vision was for himself, and we were all younger and more ambitious musically."
They recorded two singles and toured frequently, usually billed as Levon and the Hawks, but found little success, partly because without Hawkins, they lacked a magnetic frontman.
In 1963, Levon Helm met the groupie
Groupie
A groupie is a person who seeks emotional and sexual intimacy with a musician or other celebrity. "Groupie" is derived from group in reference to a musical group, but the word is also used in a more general sense, especially in casual conversation....
Cathy Smith
Cathy Smith
Catherine Evelyn Smith is a occasional backup singer, rock star girlfriend, "groupie" and drug dealer, who served 15 months in the California state prison system for injecting John Belushi with a fatal dose of heroin and cocaine in 1982.Smith had been paid for a front page headline story in the...
, with whom he and other members of the Band would have a long association.
In 1965, Helm and the band met blues singer and harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson
Sonny Boy Williamson II
Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...
. They wanted to record with him, offering to become his backing band, but Williamson died not long after their meeting.
With Bob Dylan
In late summer 1965, Bob DylanBob 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...
was looking for a backup band for his first U.S. "electric" tour. Levon and the Hawks were recommended by blues singer John Hammond
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:...
, who earlier that year had used Helm, Hudson and Robertson on his Vanguard
Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...
album So Many Roads. Around the same time, one of their friends from Toronto was working as secretary to Dylan's 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:...
. Mary Martin, told Dylan to visit the group at the Yonge Street
Yonge Street
Yonge Street is a major arterial route connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. It was formerly listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world at , and the construction of Yonge Street is designated an "Event of...
club called the Le Coq d'Or Tavern – though 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...
recollects it was the Friar's Tavern, just down the street. Her advice to Dylan: "You gotta see these guys."
After hearing the band play and meeting with Robertson, Dylan invited Helm and Robertson to join his backing band. After two concerts backing Dylan, Helm and Robertson told Dylan of their loyalty to their bandmates, and told him that they would only continue with him if he hired all of the Hawks. Dylan accepted and invited Levon and the Hawks to tour with him. The group was receptive to the offer, knowing it could give them the wider exposure they craved, but they simultaneously feared that their music was too different from his. They thought of themselves as a tightly rehearsed rock and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
group and knew Dylan mostly from his early acoustic folk and protest music. Furthermore, they had little inkling of how internationally popular Dylan had become.
With Dylan, they played a tumultuous series of concerts from September 1965 through May 1966, marking Dylan's final transition from folkie to rocker. The tours, among the most storied in rock history, were also marked by Dylan's reportedly copious use of methamphetamines. Some, though not all, of the Hawks joined in the excesses. Most of the concerts were also met with the heckling of folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
purists. Helm was so affected by the negative reception that he left the tour within three months and sat out the rest of that year's concerts, as well as the world tour in 1966. Helm spent much of this period working on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
During and between tours, Dylan and the Hawks attempted several recording sessions, but with less than satisfying results. Sessions in October and November yielded just one usable single ("Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window"), and two days of recording in January 1966 for what was intended to be Dylan's next album, 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...
, were equally unsuccessful. However, by the time the album's sessions were switched from Columbia's New York studios to Nashville, Robertson had replaced Mike Bloomfield
Mike Bloomfield
Michael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70...
as Dylan's primary guitarist. The other members of the Hawks were not invited to Nashville, though Blonde on Blondes credits also list Danko on bass and Hudson on keyboards and sax.
With Mickey Jones
Mickey Jones
Mickey Jones is an American musician and actor.-Early life:Jones was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Frances Marie and Fred Edward Jones...
on drums (replacing Sandy Konikoff, who had taken over when Levon Helm departed), Dylan and the Hawks appeared at Free Trade Hall
Free Trade Hall
The Free Trade Hall, Peter Street, Manchester, was a public hall constructed in 1853–6 on St Peter's Fields, the site of the Peterloo Massacre and is now a hotel. The hall was built to commemorate the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. The architect was Edward Walters The hall subsequently was...
in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, in May 1966. The gig became legendary when, near the end of Dylan's electric set, an audience member shouted "Judas
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...
!". After a pause, Dylan replied, "I don't believe you. You're a liar!" He then turned to the Hawks and said "Play it fucking loud!" With that, they launched into an acidic version of "Like a Rolling Stone
Like a Rolling Stone
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a 1965 song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Its confrontational lyrics originate in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England...
".
The Manchester performance was widely bootleg
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
ged (and mistakenly placed at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
). The recording of this gig became one of the most famous of Dylan's career, often inspiring a rapturous response in those who heard it. A 1971 review from Creem
Creem
Creem , "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine," was a monthly rock 'n' roll publication first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. It suspended production in 1989 but received a short-lived renaissance in the early 1990s as a glossy tabloid...
stated "My response is that crystallization of everything that is rock'n'roll music, at its finest, was to allow my jaw to drop, my body to move, to leap out of the chair ... It is an experience that one desires simply to share, to play over and over again for those he knows thirst for such pleasure. If I speak in an almost worshipful sense about this music, it is not because I have lost perspective, it is precisely because I have found it, within music, yes, that was made five years ago. But it is there and unignorable." When it finally saw official release in 1998, critic Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger is a US author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.-Life and writing:Having worked as a DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...
declared the record "an important document of rock history."
On July 29, 1966, while on a break from touring, Dylan was injured in a motorcycle accident, and retired into semi-seclusion in Woodstock, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. For a while, the Hawks returned to the bar and roadhouse touring circuit, sometimes backing other singers (including a brief stint with Tiny Tim
Tiny Tim (musician)
Tiny Tim , , born in Manhattan, was an American singer and ukulele player. He was most famous for his rendition of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" sung in a distinctive high falsetto/vibrato voice.-Rise to fame:Born to Lebanese parents in 1932, Khaury displayed musical talent at a very young age...
). Dylan invited the Hawks to join him in Woodstock, where they recorded a much-bootlegged and influential series of demos, subsequently released on LP as 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...
.
Music from Big Pink and The Band
Reunited with Helm, the Hawks began writing their own songs in a rented large pink house, which they affectionately named "Big Pink", in West SaugertiesWest Saugerties, New York
West Saugerties is an hamlet in Ulster County, New York, United States and part of the Town of Saugerties.West Saugerties is located at . It lies above sea level.-History:...
(near Woodstock). When they went into the recording studio, they still did not have a name for themselves. Stories vary as to the manner in which they ultimately adopted the name "The Band." In The Last Waltz, Manuel claimed that they wanted to call themselves either "The Honkies
Honky
Honky is a racial slur for white people, predominantly heard in the United States...
" or "The Crackers", but these names were vetoed by their record label; Robertson suggests that during their time with Dylan everyone just referred to them as "the band" and it stuck. Initially, they disliked the moniker, but eventually grew to like it, thinking it both humble and presumptuous. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
referred to them as "The band from Big Pink."
Their first 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...
(1968) was widely acclaimed. The album included three songs written or co-written by Dylan ("This Wheel's on Fire
This Wheel's on Fire
This Wheel's on Fire - Levon Helm and the Story of The Band is the 1993 autobiography of actor and musician Levon Helm, focusing on his career as a member of the rock group The Band...
", "Tears of Rage
Tears of Rage
"Tears of Rage" is a song written by Bob Dylan and Richard Manuel, the former writing the lyrics and the melody being provided by the latter.-Initial recordings:...
", and "I Shall Be Released
I Shall Be Released
"I Shall Be Released" is a 1967 song written by Bob Dylan.The Band played it on their debut album, Music from Big Pink , with Richard Manuel singing lead vocals, and Rick Danko and Levon Helm harmonizing in the chorus...
") as well as "The Weight
The Weight
"The Weight" is a song written by Robbie Robertson. It was released by The Band as Capitol Records single 2269 in 1968, and appeared one week later on the group's debut album Music from Big Pink. The song is listed as #41 on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of All Time published in 2004, and...
", the use of which in the film Easy Rider
Easy Rider
Easy Rider is a 1969 American road movie written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. It tells the story of two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and South with the aim of achieving freedom...
would make it probably their best known song. While a continuity certainly ran through the music, there were stylistic leanings in a number of directions. Never a specifically "psychedelic
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
" group, the Band's first record did contain at least one song ("Chest Fever") demonstrating some similarities with that genre. In contrast to his wild guitar playing with Hawkins and Dylan, Robertson opted for a more subdued, riff-oriented approach, often mixed low down in the song.
After the success of Big Pink, the band went on tour, including a performance at the Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
(which was not included in the famed Woodstock
Woodstock (film)
Woodstock is a 1970 American documentary on the Woodstock Festival that took place in August 1969 at Bethel in New York. Entertainment Weekly called this film the benchmark of concert movies and one of the most entertaining documentaries ever made...
film due to legal complications) and an appearance with Dylan at the UK Isle of Wight Festival
Isle of Wight Festival 1969
The 1969 Isle of Wight Festival was held on August 30–31, 1969, at Wootton, and attracted an audience of approximately 150,000 to see the acts of Bob Dylan, The Who and Free. It was the second of three music festivals held on the Isle of Wight between 1968 and 1970...
(several songs from which were subsequently included on Dylan's Self Portrait
Self Portrait (Bob Dylan album)
Self Portrait is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's tenth studio album, released by Columbia Records in June 1970.Self Portrait was Dylan's second double album, and features mostly cover versions of well-known pop and folk songs. Also included are a handful of instrumentals and original compositions...
album). That same year, they left for Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to record their follow-up, 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 :...
(1969). From their deliberately rustic appearance on the cover, to the songs and arrangements within, the album stood in contrast to other popular music of the day. Although it should be noted that, by this point, several acts, notably Dylan on John Wesley Harding
John Wesley Harding (album)
John Wesley Harding is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's eighth studio album, released by Columbia Records in December 1967.Produced by Bob Johnston, the album marked Dylan's return to acoustic music and traditional roots, after three albums of electric rock music...
and The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
on Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Sweetheart of the Rodeo is the sixth album by American rock band The Byrds and was released on August 30, 1968 on Columbia Records...
, had made similar stylistic moves. The Band featured songs that evoked oldtime rural America, from the civil war
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
in "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" is a song written by Canadian musician Robbie Robertson, first recorded by The Band in 1969 and released on their self-titled second album. Joan Baez' cover of the song was a top-five chart hit in late 1971....
" to unionization of farm workers in "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
"King Harvest " is a song written by Robbie Robertson for The Band which originally appeared as the final track on their second album, The Band....
".
These first two records were produced by John Simon
John 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:...
, who was practically a group member: he aided in arrangements
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
, and played occasional instruments (piano or tuba
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
). Simon reported that he was often asked about the distinctive horn section
Horn section
In music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...
s featured so effectively on the first two albums: people wanted to know how they had achieved such memorable sounds. Simon stated that, besides Hudson (an accomplished saxophonist), the others had only rudimentary horn skills, and achieved their sound simply by creatively utilizing their limited technique.
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
lavished praise on the Band in this era, giving them more attention than perhaps any other group in the magazine's history; Greil Marcus's articles in particular contributed greatly to the Band's mystique. The Band was also featured on the cover of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
s January 12, 1970 issue.
A critical and commercial triumph, The Band, along with works by The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
and 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...
, established a musical template (sometimes dubbed country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...
) that later would be taken to even greater levels of commercial success by such artists as the Eagles. Both Big Pink and The Band also influenced their musical contemporaries, with both Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric 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...
and George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
citing the Band as a major influence on their musical direction in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Indeed, Clapton later revealed that he had wanted to join the group.
Stage Fright, Cahoots, and Northern Lights - Southern Cross
Following their second album, the Band embarked on their first tour as a headlining act. The resulting anxiety from fame and its hang-ups was especially evidenced by the group as its songs turned to darker themes of fear and alienation: the influence on their next work is self-explanatory. Stage FrightStage Fright (album)
Stage Fright is the third album by Canadian-American group The Band released in 1970. Much more of a rock album than its predecessors, it was a departure from their previous two efforts in that its tone was darker and featured less of the harmony vocal blend that had been a centerpiece of those two...
(1970) was engineered by musician/engineer/producer Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
and recorded on a theatre stage in Woodstock, New York, but the fraying of the group's once-fabled unity was beginning to show. As was the case with their previous, self-titled record, Robertson contributed the majority of the songwriting. However, the trademark vocal style of the Band's three lead singers was much less prominent on this work.
After recording Stage Fright, the Band was among the acts participating in the Festival Express
Festival Express
Festival Express is a 2003 documentary film about the eponymous 1970 train tour across Canada taken by some of North America's most popular rock bands, including The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band and Delaney & Bonnie & Friends...
, an all-star rock concert tour of Canada by train that also included Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
and the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
. In the concert documentary film, released in 2003, Danko can be seen intoxicated participating in a drunken jam session with Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
, Bob Weir
Bob Weir
Bob Weir is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, most recognized as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead, together with other former members of the Grateful Dead...
and Joplin while singing "Ain't No More Cane."
At about this time, Robertson began exerting greater control over the Band. This has become a point of antipathy, especially between Helm and Robertson. Helm charges Robertson with authoritarianism and greed, while Robertson suggests his increased efforts in guiding the group were due largely to some of the other members being unreliable. In particular, Robertson insists he did his best to coax Manuel into writing or co-writing more songs, only to see Manuel's talents overtaken by addiction.
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...
's "When I Paint My Masterpiece," "4% Pantomime" (with 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...
), and "Life Is A Carnival," the last featuring a horn arrangement from Allen Toussaint
Allen Toussaint
Allen Toussaint is an American musician, composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B.Many of Toussaint's songs have become familiar through numerous cover versions, including "Working in the Coalmine", "Ride Your Pony", "Fortune Teller", "Play Something Sweet ", "Southern...
. Toussaint's contribution was a critical addition to the Band's next project.
One of their most notable later albums is the live recording 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...
(1972), recorded at a 1971/1972 New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
concert and featuring the line-up, bolstered by the addition of a horn section
Horn section
In music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...
, in exuberant form. The horn arrangements were written by Allen Toussaint. Bob Dylan appeared on stage for the concert's final four songs, including a version of the rare song "When I Paint My Masterpiece".
In 1973, the Band released Moondog Matinee
Moondog Matinee
Moondog Matinee is the sixth album by Canadian/American rock group The Band released in 1973. It consists entirely of cover material taken from the group's love of R&B and blues music with one exception in their interpretation of the theme from the film The Third Man.The idea had been to replicate...
, an album of cover songs. There was no tour in support of the album, which garnered mixed reviews. However, they did open for the Grateful Dead for two summer shows at Roosevelt Stadium
Roosevelt Stadium
Roosevelt Stadium was a baseball park at Droyer's Point in Jersey City, New Jersey. It opened in April 1937 and hosted high-minor league baseball, seven major league baseball games, plus championship boxing matches, top-name musical acts, important regional high school football and even soccer...
in Jersey City, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. They also played at the legendary Summer Jam at Watkins Glen
Summer Jam at Watkins Glen
The Summer Jam at Watkins Glen was a 1973 rock festival which once received the Guinness Book of World Records entry for "Largest audience at a pop festival." An estimated 600,000 rock fans came to the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Raceway outside of Watkins Glen, New York on July 28, 1973, to see The...
. This massive concert took place at the Grand Prix Raceway outside Watkins Glen, New York
Watkins Glen, New York
Watkins Glen is a village in Schuyler County, New York, United States. The population was 2,149 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Schuyler County.The Village of Watkins Glen lies on the border of the towns of Dix and Montour....
on July 28, 1973. The festival, which was attended by over 600,000 music fans, also featured the Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band is an American rock/blues band once based in Macon, Georgia. The band was formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman and Gregg Allman , who were supported by Dickey Betts , Berry Oakley , Butch Trucks , and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe"...
.
Next, the Band reunited with Dylan, first in recording Dylan's album Planet Waves
Planet Waves
Planet Waves is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 14th studio album, released by Asylum Records in January 1974....
, released in January 1974, and then for the Bob Dylan and The Band 1974 Tour
Bob Dylan and The Band 1974 Tour
The Bob Dylan and The Band 1974 Tour was a two-month concert tour in early 1974 that featured Bob Dylan, in his first real tour in eight years, performing with The Band, who as The Hawks had once been his little-known backing band...
, which played 40 shows in North America during January and February 1974. Later that year, the live album Before the Flood
Before the Flood
Side threeSide four-Personnel:* Bob Dylan – vocal, guitars, harmonica, piano* Robbie Robertson – electric guitar, backing vocal* Richard Manuel – vocal, piano, electric piano, organ, drums* Garth Hudson – Lowrey organ, clavinet, piano, synthesizer, saxophone...
was released, documenting the tour.
In 1975, now relocated to California and having built their own studio, Shangri-La, The Band released 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...
, their first album of all-new material since 1971's Cahoots. All eight songs were written exclusively by Robertson. Despite poor record sales (due to the elongated period of inactivity by the band) the album is favored by critics and fans alike. Levon Helm regards this album highly in his book, This Wheel's on Fire
This Wheel's on Fire
This Wheel's on Fire - Levon Helm and the Story of The Band is the 1993 autobiography of actor and musician Levon Helm, focusing on his career as a member of the rock group The Band...
: "It was the best album we had done since The Band." Highlights from the album included the Helm sung New Orleans sounding "Ophelia" and Rick Danko's emotionally driven vocal on "It Makes no Difference," both of which were performed live 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...
. Another notable song from the album was the epic story "Acadian Driftwood
Acadian Driftwood
"Acadian Driftwood" is a song by The Band. It was the fourth track on the album Northern Lights - Southern Cross."Acadian Driftwood" is a portrayal of the troubled history of Nova Scotia and Acadia, the Great Upheaval...
" which was also performed at the Last Waltz, but not included in the movie. The album also produced more experimentation from Hudson switching to synthesizers, heavily showcased on "Jupiter Hollow."
The Last Waltz
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,...
concert on November 25, 1976 at the Winterland Ballroom
Winterland Ballroom
The Winterland Ballroom, often referred to as Winterland Arena or simply Winterland, was an old ice skating rink and 5,400-seat music venue in San Francisco, California...
in San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The concert featured a horn section
Horn section
In music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...
with arrangements by Allen Toussaint
Allen Toussaint
Allen Toussaint is an American musician, composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B.Many of Toussaint's songs have become familiar through numerous cover versions, including "Working in the Coalmine", "Ride Your Pony", "Fortune Teller", "Play Something Sweet ", "Southern...
and a stellar list of guests, including other Canadian acts Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni 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...
and 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...
. Two of the guests were fundamental to The Band's existence and growth: 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...
and 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...
. Other guests they admired (and in most cases had worked with before) included Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
, Dr. John
Dr. John
Malcolm 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...
, 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...
, Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
, Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric 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...
, Ronnie Wood, Paul Butterfield
Paul Butterfield
Paul 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...
, and Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
.
The concert was directed and filmed by 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...
. Concert footage and interviews with the band members and friends were combined with soundstage performances with country singer 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...
("Evangeline") and gospel-soul group The Staple Singers
The Staple Singers
The 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...
("The Weight"). The resulting concert film
Concert film
A concert movie, or concert film, is a type of documentary film, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by a musician ....
-documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
was released in 1978, as was a triple-LP soundtrack.
Post-Waltz
Because of contractual obligations, The Band released one more album after recording the Last Waltz, although it was released before the Last Waltz film and soundtrack. 1977's 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...
was the last with The Band's classic lineup. It contained a mix of originals and covers.
Reformation
In 1983, the Band reformed and recommenced touring, though without Robertson. Several different musicians were recruited to replace Robertson and to fill out the group. The reunited Band was generally well-received, but found themselves playing in smaller venues than during the peak of their popularity.While the reunited Band was touring, on March 4, 1986, Manuel committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
in his Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
motel room. It was revealed later that he had suffered for many years from chronic alcoholism. According to Levon Helm's autobiography, in the later stages of his illness, Manuel was consuming eight bottles of Grand Marnier
Grand Marnier
Grand Marnier is a liqueur created in 1880 by Alexandre Marnier-Lapostolle. It is made from a blend of true cognacs and distilled essence of bitter orange. Grand Marnier is 40% alcohol . It is produced in several varieties, most of which can be consumed "neat" as a digestif and can be used in...
per day.
Helm, Danko and Hudson played in the 1989 version of Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band performing The Weight
The Weight
"The Weight" is a song written by Robbie Robertson. It was released by The Band as Capitol Records single 2269 in 1968, and appeared one week later on the group's debut album Music from Big Pink. The song is listed as #41 on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of All Time published in 2004, and...
and Up On Cripple Creek
Up on Cripple Creek
"Up on Cripple Creek" is the fifth song on The Band's eponymous second album, The Band. It was released as a single in November 1969 and reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100...
.
The band participated in former Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
member 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...
' The Wall Live in Berlin concert in 1990, and in Bob Dylan's 30th anniversary concert
The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration
The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration is a live double-album release in recognition of Bob Dylan's 30 years as a recording artist. Recorded on October 16, 1992 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, it captures most of the concert, which featured many artists performing classic Dylan songs,...
celebration in New York City in October 1992. The group was the opening band for the final Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
shows at Soldier Field
Soldier Field
Soldier Field is located on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in the Near South Side. It is home to the NFL's Chicago Bears...
, in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
in July 1995.
Richard Manuel's position as pianist was filled first by old friend Stan Szelest (who died not long after), then by Richard Bell
Richard Bell (Canadian musician)
Richard Bell was a Canadian musician best known as the pianist for Janis Joplin and her Full Tilt Boogie Band. He was also a keyboardist with The Band during the 1990s.-Early life and career:...
. (Bell played with Ronnie Hawkins after the departure of the original Hawks, and was best known from his days as a member of Janis Joplin's Full Tilt Boogie Band
Full Tilt Boogie Band
Full Tilt Boogie Band was a rock band originally headed by guitarist John Till and then by Janis Joplin until her death in 1970. The band was composed of Till, pianist Richard Bell, bassist Brad Campbell, drummer Clark Pierson, and organist Ken Pearson....
.) The reformed group recorded Jericho
Jericho (album)
-The Band:*Rick Danko: Bass guitar, guitars, fiddle, trombone, keyboards, vocals.*Levon Helm: Drums, percussion, mandolin, guitar, vocals.*Garth Hudson: Organ, keyboards, accordion, electric piano, saxophones, synthesizers, horns....
in 1993 with much of the songwriting being handled outside the group. Two more post-reunion efforts followed, High on the Hog and Jubilation, the latter including guest appearances from Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric 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...
and 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...
.
The Juno Awards of 1989
Juno Awards of 1989
The Juno Awards of 1989, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 12 March 1989 in Toronto at a ceremony in the O'Keefe Centre. André-Philippe Gagnon was the host for the ceremonies, which were broadcast on CBC Television.Blue Rodeo won in three of its...
hosted a special reunion of several band members when The Band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame
Canadian Music Hall of Fame
The Canadian Music Hall of Fame honors Canadian musicians for their lifetime achievements in music. The ceremony is held each year as part of the Juno Award ceremonies. Members of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame represent many of the world's great talents...
. This was also the year that 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...
won three awards for his self titled album. With Canadian country rock superstars 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...
as a back-up band, Music Express
Music Express
A Music Express is an amusement park and carnival ride based on the original Caterpillar rides of Germany. Several near-identical ride designs are also produced by other companies; Musik Express by Italian company Bertazzon and US Majestic Rides, Himalaya by American company Wisdom Rides,German...
called the 1989 Juno appearance with Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko
Rick Danko
Richard Clare "Rick" Danko was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band.-Early years :...
, and Garth Hudson
Garth Hudson
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...
a symbolic "passing of the torch" from The Band to 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...
.
In 1994 Robertson appeared with Danko and Hudson as The Band for the second time since the original group broke up. The occasion was the induction of The Band into 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,...
. Helm, who has feuded with Robertson for years over accusations of stolen songwriting credits, did not attend.
On December 10, 1999, another member was lost when Rick Danko died in his sleep at the age of 55. Following his death, The Band broke up for good.
Post-reformation
Robertson bought all other former members' financial interests in the group in 2002, with the exception of Helm, giving him major control of the presentation of the group's material, including latter-day compilations.Richard Bell
Richard Bell (Canadian musician)
Richard Bell was a Canadian musician best known as the pianist for Janis Joplin and her Full Tilt Boogie Band. He was also a keyboardist with The Band during the 1990s.-Early life and career:...
, The Band's late-period keyboardist, passed away due to multiple myeloma
Multiple myeloma
Multiple myeloma , also known as plasma cell myeloma or Kahler's disease , is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell normally responsible for the production of antibodies...
in June of 2007.
The Band received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
on February 9, 2008 but there was no reunion of all three living members. In honor of the event, Helm held a "Midnight Ramble" in Woodstock, NY.
Members' other endeavors
All of The Band's members remained active in music to one degree or another.Robertson became a music producer and wrote movie soundtracks (including acting as music supervisor for several of Scorsese's films) before a highly praised comeback with a 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...
produced, eponymous solo album in 1987. He released a second solo album, Storyville
Storyville
Storyville was the red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1897 through 1917. Locals usually simply referred to the area as The District.-History:...
, in 1991 and another album in 2010. He also released a newly remixed version of the already heavily overdubbed The Last Waltz.
Helm received many plaudits for his acting debut in Coal Miner's Daughter
Coal Miner's Daughter
Coal Miner's Daughter is a 1980 American biographical film which tells the story of country music icon Loretta Lynn. It stars Sissy Spacek in her Academy Award for Best Actress winning role, Tommy Lee Jones, Beverly D'Angelo and Levon Helm, and was directed by Michael Apted.-Background:The film was...
, a biographical film about Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...
, and for his narration and small supporting role opposite Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
in 1983's The Right Stuff. He has appeared in small roles in a number of other films.
After the breakup of the Band, in the late 70s and 80s Helm released several solo albums and toured with a band called Levon Helm and the RCO Allstars. In 2007 Helm released a new album, a homage to his southern roots called Dirt Farmer
Dirt Farmer
Dirt Farmer is an album by American musician Levon Helm, former drummer for The Band. The album was released on October 30, 2007 on Vanguard Records, and was Helm's first studio album since 1982. The album contains covers of songs by Steve Earle and J. B. Lenoir, and features his daughter Amy, as...
, which was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album
The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album was awarded from 1987 to 2011. Until 1993 the award was known as the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Recording.An award for Best Contemporary Folk Album was also presented...
on February 9, 2008. Electric Dirt
Electric Dirt
Electric Dirt is a 2009 album by American musician Levon Helm. It is the follow-up to his Grammy-winning 2007 album Dirt Farmer. In Uncuts list of the 150 best albums between 2000 until 2009, Electric Dirt was listed 80th...
followed in 2009 which also won a "Best Album" Grammy Award. Helm regularly performs concerts at his barn studio in Woodstock, New York and tours. At Helm's encouragement, Capital has re-released the first three the Band albums as a set.
In 1984, Rick Danko joined members of the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers and others in the huge touring company that made up "The Byrds Twenty-Year Celebration." Several members of the band performed solo songs to start the show including Danko who performed "Mystery Train". Danko also released a number of solo albums.
Hudson played keyboards on the first three albums by The Call
The 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...
. Hudson has released two acclaimed solo CDs, The Sea To The North in 2001, and LIVE at the WOLF in 2005, both featuring his wife, Maud, on vocals. He has also kept busy as an in-demand studio musician. He is featured extensively on recordings of Country/Indie star Neko Case. Hudson 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
Union Square Theatre
Union Square Theater is an Off-Broadway theatre, owned by Reading International, who also owns Reading Entertainment.- Productions :*Visiting Mr. Green by Jeff Baron*The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman and the Members of the Tectonic Theater Project...
in New York, which was re-staged with a new cast in Los Angeles in 1990.
Influence
The Band has influenced numerous bands, songwriters, and performers, from the Grateful DeadGrateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
and The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
to Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric 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...
, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, and Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
.
The 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...
, in particular, is credited with contributing to Clapton's decision to leave the super group
Supergroup (music)
In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....
Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
. In his introduction of The Band during the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert, Clapton announced that in 1968 he'd heard the album, "and it changed my life", he said. Guitarist Richard Thompson has openly acknowledged the album's influence on Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
's Liege and Lief, and journalist John Harris has suggested that The Band's debut also influenced the spirit of The Beatles' back-to-basics album Let It Be as well as The Rolling Stones' string of roots-infused albums that began with Beggars Banquet
Beggars Banquet
- Personnel :The Rolling Stones* Mick Jagger – lead and backing vocals, harmonica on "Parachute Woman"* Keith Richards – acoustic and electric guitar, bass guitar on "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Street Fighting Man", backing vocals, lead vocals on opening of "Salt of the Earth"* Brian...
. Meanwhile, the Big Pink song "The Weight
The Weight
"The Weight" is a song written by Robbie Robertson. It was released by The Band as Capitol Records single 2269 in 1968, and appeared one week later on the group's debut album Music from Big Pink. The song is listed as #41 on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of All Time published in 2004, and...
" has been covered numerous times, and in various musical styles.
In the nineties, a new generation of bands influenced by The Band began to gain popularity, including Counting Crows
Counting Crows
Counting Crows is an American rock band originating from Berkeley, California. Formed in 1991, the group gained popularity following the release of its debut album in 1993, August and Everything After, which featured the hit single "Mr. Jones"...
and The Black Crowes
The Black Crowes
The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in 1989. Their discography includes nine studio albums, four live albums and several charting singles. The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer George Drakoulias and released their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, the...
. Counting Crows indicated this influence with their tribute to the late 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....
, "If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)
If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)
"If I Could Give All My Love " is a single by the American rock band Counting Crows. It is the fourth track on their fourth album Hard Candy...
" from their album Hard Candy. The Black Crowes frequently cover Band songs during live performances, such as "The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down", which appears on their DVD Freak 'n' Roll into the Fog
Freak 'n' Roll Into The Fog
Freak 'n' Roll...Into the Fog: The Black Crowes All Join Hands, The Fillmore, San Francisco is a live concert album released on DVD, CD and Blu-ray by American southern rock band The Black Crowes in 2006....
. They have also recorded at Helm's studio in Woodstock.
Chicago's Umphrey's McGee
Umphrey's McGee
Umphrey's McGee is an American progressive rock jam band based in Chicago whose music is often referred to as "progressive improvisation", or "improg" ....
has covered both "Ophelia" and "Don't Do It
Baby Don't You Do It
-Original version:"Baby Don't You Do It" is a 1964 single by American singer Marvin Gaye. Released on the Tamla label, this song discusses a man who is at a standstill with his girlfriend, who he feels is neglecting his love stating "don't break my heart/...I've tried to do my best".Featured on the...
". Both were covered for the first time at their New Year's Eve concert from 2004, Wrapped Around Chicago. "Ophelia" appears on that release. They have also covered "The Weight" twice with Huey Lewis
Huey Lewis
Huey Lewis is an American musician, songwriter and occasional actor.Lewis sings lead and plays harmonica for his band Huey Lewis and the News, in addition to writing or co-writing many of the band's songs...
on vocals.
Southern-based "jam band
Jam band
-Ambiguity:By the late 1990s use of the term jam band also became ambiguous. An editorial at jamband.com suggested that any band of which a primary band such as Phish has done a cover of be included as jam band. The example was including New York post-punk band Talking Heads after Phish performed...
" Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Todd Nance, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and guitarist Jimmy Herring...
has covered "Ophelia" consistently from 1987 to 2007, and in 2006 they began covering "Chest Fever
Chest Fever
"Chest Fever" is a song recorded by The Band on its 1968 debut, Music from Big Pink. It is, according to Peter Viney, a historian of the group, “the Big Pink track that has appeared on most subsequent live albums and compilations,” second only to The Weight.The music for the piece was written by...
" as well.
In 2004 southern rock
Southern rock
Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music, and genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitar and vocals...
-revivalists Drive-By Truckers
Drive-By Truckers
Drive-By Truckers are an alternative country/Southern rock band based in Athens, Georgia, though three out of six members are originally from The Shoals region of Northern Alabama, and the band strongly identifies with Alabama. Their music uses three guitars as well as bass, drums, and now...
released the track "Danko/Manuel" on the album The Dirty South
The Dirty South (album)
The Dirty South is the fifth album by Alabamian alternative country/Southern rock group Drive-By Truckers, released in 2004. The Dirty South is Drive-By Truckers' third concept album...
.
The inspiration for the classic rock-influenced band The Hold Steady
The Hold Steady
The Hold Steady is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2004. The band consists of Craig Finn , Tad Kubler , Galen Polivka , Bobby Drake , and Steve Selvidge...
came while members Craig Finn and Tad Kubler were watching 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...
. Rick Danko and Robbie Robertson are namechecked in the lyrics of "The Swish" from The Hold Steady's 2004 debut album Almost Killed Me
Almost Killed Me
Almost Killed Me is the debut studio album by Brooklyn-based rock band The Hold Steady, released on March 16, 2004 on Frenchkiss Records. It is considered by many to be a concept album, with several recurring themes such as near-death experiences, parties and the fictional character Charlemagne...
.
In January 2007, a tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
, entitled Endless Highway: The Music of The Band
Endless Highway: The Music of The Band
Endless Highway: The Music of the Band, a tribute to The Band, was released on 30 January 2007.-Track listing:All songs written by Robbie Robertson unless noted otherwise.#"This Wheel's on Fire" performed by Guster - 3:24...
, was released which included contributions by My Morning Jacket
My Morning Jacket
My Morning Jacket is an American rock band from Louisville, Kentucky.The band consists of Jim James , Tom 'Two-Tone Tommy' Blankenship , Patrick Hallahan , Carl Broemel , and Bo Koster .-History:My Morning Jacket was...
, Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie is an American alternative rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band consists of Ben Gibbard , Chris Walla , Nick Harmer and Jason McGerr ....
, Gomez
Gomez (band)
Gomez are an English indie rock band from Southport, comprising Ian Ball , Paul "Blackie" Blackburn , Tom Gray , Ben Ottewell and Olly Peacock . The band is distinguished for having three singers and four songwriters, employing traditional and electronic instruments...
, Guster
Guster
Guster is an American alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. Formed in 1991, the group is known for its live performances and humor, founding members Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller, and Brian Rosenworcel came about to begin practice sessions while attending Tufts University in Medford,...
, Bruce Hornsby
Bruce Hornsby
Bruce Randall Hornsby is an American singer, pianist, accordion player, and songwriter. Known for the spontaneity and creativity of his live performances, Hornsby draws frequently from classical, jazz, bluegrass, folk, Motown, rock, blues, and jam band musical traditions with his songwriting and...
, Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson (musician)
Jack Johnson was born May 18, 1975 is an American folk rock singer-songwriter, surfer and musician known for his work in the soft rock and acoustic genres. In 2001, he achieved commercial success after the release of his debut album, Brushfire Fairytales. He has since released four more albums, a...
and ALO
Animal Liberation Orchestra
Animal Liberation Orchestra is an American musical group, currently signed on Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records label. They have released three full length albums...
, Leanne Womack, The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band is an American rock/blues band once based in Macon, Georgia. The band was formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman and Gregg Allman , who were supported by Dickey Betts , Berry Oakley , Butch Trucks , and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe"...
, Blues Traveler
Blues Traveler
Blues Traveler is a rock band, formed in Princeton, New Jersey in 1987. The band has been influenced by a variety of genres, including blues-rock, psychedelic rock, folk rock, soul, and Southern rock...
, Jakob Dylan
Jakob Dylan
Jakob Luke Dylan is the lead singer and songwriter of the rock band The Wallflowers and is a son of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and Sara Dylan. He has also recorded two solo albums.-Personal life:...
, and Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of the late country music singer Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin....
, amongst others.
In June, 2010, jam band Phish
Phish
Phish is an American rock band noted for its musical improvisation, extended jams, and exploration of music across genres. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983 , the band's four members – Trey Anastasio , Mike Gordon , Jon Fishman , and Page McConnell Phish is an American rock band...
covered "Look out Cleveland" to open a show at Blossom Music Center outside of Cleveland, OH.
The 2010 Dukes of September Rhythm Revue tour (Donald Fagen
Donald Fagen
Donald Jay Fagen is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the co-founder, lead singer, and the principal songwriter of the rock band Steely Dan ....
, Boz Scaggs
Boz Scaggs
William Royce "Boz" Scaggs is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He gained fame in the 1970s with several Top 20 hit singles in the United States, along with the #2 album, Silk Degrees. Scaggs continues to write, record music and tour.-Early life and career:Scaggs was born in Canton,...
and Michael McDonald
Michael McDonald (singer)
Michael McDonald is a five-time Grammy Award winning American singer and songwriter. McDonald is known for a soulful baritone singing style and a multi-octave range. He began his career singing back-up vocals with Steely Dan...
) features a mini-tribute to The Band including Caldonia Mission (Fagen), Rag Mama Rag (Scaggs) and The Shape I'm In (McDonald) in the middle of the set.
Studio albums
- Music from Big PinkMusic from Big PinkMusic 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...
(1968) - The BandThe 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 :...
(1969) - Stage FrightStage Fright (album)Stage Fright is the third album by Canadian-American group The Band released in 1970. Much more of a rock album than its predecessors, it was a departure from their previous two efforts in that its tone was darker and featured less of the harmony vocal blend that had been a centerpiece of those two...
(1970) - Cahoots (1971)
- Moondog MatineeMoondog MatineeMoondog Matinee is the sixth album by Canadian/American rock group The Band released in 1973. It consists entirely of cover material taken from the group's love of R&B and blues music with one exception in their interpretation of the theme from the film The Third Man.The idea had been to replicate...
(1973) - Northern Lights – Southern Cross (1975)
- 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...
(1977) - JerichoJericho (album)-The Band:*Rick Danko: Bass guitar, guitars, fiddle, trombone, keyboards, vocals.*Levon Helm: Drums, percussion, mandolin, guitar, vocals.*Garth Hudson: Organ, keyboards, accordion, electric piano, saxophones, synthesizers, horns....
(1993) - High on the Hog (1996)
- Jubilation (1998)
with 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...
- Planet WavesPlanet WavesPlanet Waves is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 14th studio album, released by Asylum Records in January 1974....
(1974) - The Basement TapesThe Basement TapesThe 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...
(1975)
Live albums
- Rock of AgesRock 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...
(1972) - 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...
(1978) - Live at Watkins GlenLive at Watkins Glen-Personnel:*The Band – producers*Rick Danko – bass, vocals*Levon Helm – drums, mandolin, vocals*Garth Hudson – organ, clavinet*Richard Manuel – piano, drums, clavinet, vocals*Robbie Robertson – guitars*Wayne Watkins – reissue producer...
(1995)
with 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...
- Before the FloodBefore the FloodSide threeSide four-Personnel:* Bob Dylan – vocal, guitars, harmonica, piano* Robbie Robertson – electric guitar, backing vocal* Richard Manuel – vocal, piano, electric piano, organ, drums* Garth Hudson – Lowrey organ, clavinet, piano, synthesizer, saxophone...
(1974) - The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert (1998)
Lineups
| 1967–1976 |
|
|---|---|
| 1976–1983 |
Band Split |
| 1983–1985 |
with
|
| 1985–1986 |
Jim Weider Jim Weider is a guitarist best known for his work with The Band. He joined the reformed version of The Band in 1985 to replace original guitarist Robbie Robertson.... – guitar |
| 1986–1989 |
Fred Carter, Jr. Fred Carter, Jr. was an American guitarist, singer, producer and composer.- Early career :Carter was raised in the delta country in Winnsboro, the seat of Franklin Parish in northeastern Louisiana. Carter grew up with the heavy musical influences of jazz, country & western, hymns, and blues... – guitar |
| 1989–1990 |
|
| 1990–1991 |
Randy Ciarlante Randy Ciarlante is a musician best known for his work with The Band. He joined The Band in 1990, singing harmony vocals and playing drums. He played and sang on The Band's albums from the 1990s, including Jubilation and High on the Hog. After The Band dissolved, he joined the Jim Weider Band from... – bass, drums, vocals |
| 1991–1992 |
|
| 1992–1999 |
Richard Bell (Canadian musician) Richard Bell was a Canadian musician best known as the pianist for Janis Joplin and her Full Tilt Boogie Band. He was also a keyboardist with The Band during the 1990s.-Early life and career:... – keyboards |
See also
- Canadian rockCanadian rockCanadian rock describes a wide and diverse variety of music produced by Canadians, beginning with American style rock 'n' roll in the mid-20th century. Since then Canada has had a considerable impact on the development of the modern popular music called rock...
- Music of CanadaMusic of CanadaThe music of Canada has influences that have shaped the country. Aboriginals, the British, and the French have all made unique contributions to the musical heritage of Canada. The music has subsequently been heavily influenced by American culture because of its proximity and migration between...
External links
- A definitive The Band resource ("no longer active, but our massive archives will be kept on-line")
- The Band - A Musical History, official site from Capitol Records
- In Studio
- The Band at Rolling Stone magazine
- The Band and I by Barney Hoskyns
