The Band | |
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | The Hawks Levon and the Hawks Canadian Squires The Honkies |
| Origin | Toronto,Ontario, Canada Woodstock, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Works | The Band discography |
| Years active |
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| Labels | |
| Past members | Rick Danko Levon Helm Garth Hudson Richard Manuel Robbie Robertson Stan Szelest Richard Bell Jim Weider Randy Ciarlante |
The Band (sometimes stylized asthe Band orthe band) was a Canadian-Americanrock band formed inToronto, Ontario. It consisted of CanadiansRick Danko (bass, guitar, vocals, fiddle),Garth Hudson (organ, keyboards, accordion, saxophone),Richard Manuel (piano, drums, vocals) andRobbie Robertson (guitar, piano, percussion) and AmericanLevon Helm (drums, vocals, mandolin, guitar, bass). The Band's music combined elements ofAmericana,folk, rock, R&B,jazz andcountry, which influenced artists includingGeorge Harrison,Elton John,the Grateful Dead,Eric Clapton andWilco.
Between 1958 and 1963, the group were known as the Hawks and were the backing band forrockabilly singerRonnie Hawkins, based inToronto, Ontario. In the mid-1960s, they gained recognition for backingBob Dylan on his1966 concert tour as Dylan's first electric band. After leaving Dylan and changing their name to "The Band", they released their 1968 debut album,Music from Big Pink, and its succeeding album, 1969'sThe Band, to critical acclaim and commercial success.Pink Floyd'sRoger Waters deemed their debut the "second-most influential record in the history of rock and roll", and music journalistAl Aronowitz called it "country soul ... a sound never heard before". The Band's most popular songs include "The Weight" (1968), "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (1969), and "Up on Cripple Creek" (1969). The Band later releasedStage Fright (1970),Cahoots (1971), the live albumRock of Ages (1972), thecovers albumMoondog Matinee (1973), andNorthern Lights – Southern Cross (1975).
The Band performed a farewell concert on November 25, 1976. Footage from the event was released in 1978 as theconcert filmThe Last Waltz, directed byMartin Scorsese. After five years apart, Danko, Hudson, Helm, and Manuel reunited in 1983 for a tour without Robertson. Manuel died in 1986, but the remaining three members continued to tour and occasionally released new albums of studio material until Danko's death in 1999, after which the Band broke up for good. The Band was inducted into theCanadian Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and theRock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. In 2004,Rolling Stone ranked them 50th on its list of the100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The Band received aGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 and were inducted intoCanada's Walk of Fame in 2014.
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The future members of the Band first played together as the Hawks, the backing group forrockabilly singerRonnie Hawkins, based in Toronto.Levon Helm began playing with the group in 1957 and became their fulltime drummer after graduating from high school in 1958. Helm journeyed with Hawkins fromArkansas toOntario, where they were joined by Robbie Robertson,Rick Danko,Richard Manuel, and finallyGarth Hudson. Later-Band memberStan Szelest was also in the group at that time. Hawkins's act was popular in and around Toronto and inHamilton to the south,[2] and he had an effective way of eliminating his musical competition. When a promising band appeared, Hawkins would hire their best musicians for his own group; Robertson, Danko, and Manuel came under Hawkins's tutelage this way.
In the late 1950s, with Helm and Robertson in his band, Hawkins performed regularly at Pop Ivey's Summer Garden Pavilion inPort Dover, Ontario. In May 1961, he recruited Danko after watching the Simcoe native, who was 17, playing at the Pavilion.[3] At the same venue, Hawkins and other members of the Hawks happened to see Richard Manuel's group Revols perform for the first time.[4] That led Hawkins to take on management of Manuel's band. In September 1961, Hawkins convinced Manuel to leave the Revols and join the Hawks.
While most of the Hawks were eager to join Hawkins's group, getting Hudson to join was more difficult. Having earned a college degree, Hudson planned on a career as a music teacher, and was only interested in playing rock music as a hobby. The Hawks admired his wild, full-bore organ style and asked him repeatedly to join. Hudson finally agreed, under the condition that the Hawks each pay him $10 per week to be their instructor and purchase a new state-of-the-artLowrey organ; all music theory questions were directed to Hudson.
There is a view thatjazz is 'evil' because it comes from evil people, but actually the greatest priests on 52nd Street, and on the streets of New York City were the musicians. They were doing the greatest healing work. And they knew how to punch through music which would cure and make people feel good.
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 their instrumental skills. In late 1963, the group split from Hawkins over personal differences. They had grown tired of playing the same songs so often and wanted to perform original material, and they were also wary of Hawkins's heavy-handed 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 smokedmarijuana.
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, 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.[5]
The group was briefly known as the Levon Helm Sextet, with a sixth member, saxophonist Jerry Penfound after leaving Hawkins. Then it became Levon and the Hawks after Penfound's departure. In 1965, they released a single on Ware Records under the name the Canadian Squires, but they returned as Levon and the Hawks for a recording session forAtco later that year.[6] Also in 1965, Helm and the band met blues singer and harmonica playerSonny Boy Williamson. They wanted to record with him, offering to become his backing band, but Williamson died not long after their meeting.
Later in 1965, American musicianBob Dylan hired the group as his backing band for his U.S. tour in 1965 andworld tour in 1966.[7] After the 1966 tour, the group moved with help from Dylan and his manager,Albert Grossman, toSaugerties, New York, where they made the informal 1967 recordings that becameThe Basement Tapes, the basis for their 1968 debut album,Music from Big Pink. Because they were always referred to simply as "the band" to various frontmen and the locals in Woodstock, Helm said the name "The Band" worked well when the group came into its own.[8][a] The group decided on it as their official name and began performing under it from 1968 onward. Dylan continued to collaborate with The Band over the course of their career, most notably in a joint1974 tour.[10]
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In late summer 1965, Bob Dylan was looking for a backup band for his first U.S. "electric" tour. Levon and the Hawks were recommended by blues singerJohn P. Hammond, who earlier that year had recorded with Helm, Hudson and Robertson on hisVanguard albumSo Many Roads.[11][12] Around the same time, one of their friends from Toronto, Mary Martin, was working as secretary to Dylan's manager,Albert Grossman. She told Dylan to visit the group at Le Coq d'Or Tavern, a club onYonge Street, in Toronto—though Robertson recollects it was the Friar's Tavern, just down the street.[13] Her advice to Dylan: "Yougotta see these guys."[14]
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 continue with him only 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. They thought of themselves as a tightly rehearsed rock andrhythm 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.[15]
With Dylan, the Hawks played a series of concerts from September 1965 through May 1966, billed as "Bob Dylan and The Band". The tours were marked by Dylan's reportedly copious use ofamphetamines. Some, though not all, of the Hawks joined in the excesses.[16] Most of the concerts were met with heckling and disapproval fromfolk music purists. Helm was so affected by the negative reception that he left the tour after a little more than one month and sat out the rest of that year's concerts, as well as the world tour in 1966.[17] Helm spent much of this period working on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.[18]
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 usablesingle ("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, resulted in "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)", which was released as a single a few weeks later and was subsequently selected for the album.[19] On "One of Us Must Know", Dylan was backed by drummerBobby Gregg, bassist Danko (orBill Lee),[b] guitarist Robbie Robertson, pianistPaul Griffin, andAl Kooper (who was more a guitarist than an organist) playing organ.[20] Frustrated by the slow progress in the New York studio, Dylan accepted the suggestion of producerBob Johnston and moved the recording sessions to Nashville. In Nashville, Robertson's guitar was prominent on theBlonde on Blonde recordings, especially in the song "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat", but the other members of the Hawks did not attend the sessions.
During the European leg of their 1966 world tour,Mickey Jones replaced Sandy Konikoff on drums. Dylan and the Hawks played at theFree Trade Hall inManchester on May 17, 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".[21]
The Manchester performance was widelybootlegged (and mistakenly placed at theRoyal Albert Hall). In a 1971 review forCreem, criticDave Marsh wrote:
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.[22]
When the concert finally saw an official release asThe Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert in 1998, criticRichie Unterberger declared the record "an important document of rock history."[23]
On July 29, 1966, while on a break from touring, Dylan was injured in a motorcycle accident that precipitated his retreat into semi-seclusion inWoodstock,New York.[24] For a while, the Hawks returned to the bar and roadhouse touring circuit, sometimes backing other singers, including a brief stint withTiny Tim. Dylan invited the Hawks to join him in Woodstock in February 1967,[25] and Danko, Hudson, and Manuel rented a large pink house, which they named "Big Pink", in nearbyWest Saugerties, New York. The next month (initially without Helm) they commenced recording a much-bootlegged and influential series of demos, initially at Dylan's house in Woodstock and later at Big Pink, which were released partially on LP asThe Basement Tapes in 1975 andin full in 2014. A track-by-track review of the bootleg was detailed byJann Wenner inRolling Stone, in which the band members were explicitly named and given the collective name "the Crackers".[26] While Helm was not involved in the initial recording, he did perform in later sessions and in overdubs recorded in 1975 before the album's release.
The sessions with Dylan ended in October 1967, with Helm having rejoined the group by that time, and the Hawks began writing their own songs at Big Pink. 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". InThe Last Waltz, Manuel claimed that they wanted to call themselves either "TheHonkies" or "TheCrackers" (which they used when backing Dylan for a January 1968 concert tribute toWoody Guthrie), 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 the name stuck. Initially they disliked the moniker, but eventually they grew to like it, thinking it both humble and presumptuous. In 1969,Rolling Stone referred to them as "the band from Big Pink".[27]
Their debut album,Music from Big Pink, was released in July 1968 and was widely acclaimed. It 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", which became one of their best-known songs after it was used in the 1969 filmEasy Rider. While a thematic continuity ran through the music, the musical style varied from song to song.Pink Floyd'sRoger Waters deemed it the "second-most influential record in the history of rock and roll",[28] and music journalistAl Aronowitz called it "country soul... a sound never heard before".[29]
In early 1969, after the success ofMusic from Big Pink, the Band went on tour, starting with an appearance atWinterland Ballroom. They performed at theWoodstock Festival (their performance was not included in the famedWoodstock film because of legal complications), and later that year they performed with Dylan at the UKIsle of Wight Festival (several songs from which were subsequently included on Dylan'sSelf Portrait album). That same year, they left for Los Angeles to record their follow-up,The Band (1969). From their rustic appearance on the cover to the songs and arrangements within, the album stood in contrast to other popular music of the day.[citation needed] Several other artists had already made similar stylistic moves, notably Dylan, onJohn Wesley Harding (1967), which was written during theBasement Tapes sessions, andthe Byrds, onSweetheart of the Rodeo (1968), which featured twoBasement Tapes covers.The Band featured songs that evoked old-time rural America, from theCivil War in "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" to theunionization of farm workers in "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)".
These first two records were produced byJohn Simon, who was practically a group member: he aided inarrangements in addition to playing occasional piano andtuba. Simon reported that he was often asked about the distinctivehorn sections featured 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 using 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;[citation needed]Greil Marcus's articles contributed to the Band's mystique. The Band was also featured on the cover ofTime (January 12, 1970), the first rock group after the Beatles, over two years earlier, to achieve this rare distinction.[30]David Attie's unused photographs for this cover—among the very few studio portraits taken during The Band's prime—have only recently been discovered, and were featured in Daniel Roher'sRobbie Robertson documentaryOnce Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band, as well as having their own four-page spread inHarvey Kubernik and his brother, Ken Kubernik's "The Story of The Band: FromBig Pink toThe Last Waltz" (Sterling Publishing, 2018).[31]
A critical and commercial triumph,The Band, along with works by the Byrds andthe Flying Burrito Brothers, established a musical template (dubbedcountry rock) that paved the way to theEagles.[citation needed] BothBig Pink andThe Band also influenced their musical contemporaries.Eric Clapton andGeorge Harrison cited the Band as a major influence on their musical direction in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Clapton later revealed that he wanted to join the group.[32] While he never did join, he recruited all of the members of the Band as well as other roots rock performers for his 1976 albumNo Reason to Cry.
After their second album, The Band embarked on their first tour as a lead act. The anxiety of fame was clear, as the group's songs turned to darker themes of fear and alienation: the influence on their next work is self-explanatory.Stage Fright (1970) was engineered by musician-engineer-producerTodd Rundgren and recorded on stage at the iconicWoodstock Playhouse. As with their previous, self-titled record, Robertson was credited with most of the songwriting. Initial critical reaction was positive, but it was seen as a disappointment from the previous two albums for various reasons. After recordingStage Fright, The Band was among the acts participating in theFestival Express, an all-star rock concert tour of Canada by train that also includedJanis Joplin, theGrateful Dead and future Band memberRichard Bell (at the time he was a member of Joplin's band). In the concert documentary film, released in 2003, Danko can be seen participating in a drunken jam session withJerry Garcia,Bob Weir,John Dawson, and Joplin while singing "Ain't No More Cane".
About that time, Robertson began exerting greater control over the Band, a point of contention between him and Helm. Helm charged Robertson withauthoritarianism and greed, while Robertson suggested that he made increased efforts to guide the group in part because Danko, Helm, and Manuel were becoming more unreliable due to their heroin usage.[33] Robertson insists he did his best to coax Manuel into writing more songs, only to see him descend into addiction.
Despite mounting problems among the group members, The Band forged ahead with their next album,Cahoots (1971).Cahoots featured Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece", "4% Pantomime" (withVan Morrison), and "Life Is a Carnival", the last featuring a horn arrangement byAllen Toussaint. Toussaint's contribution was a critical addition to The Band's next project, and the group would later record two songs written by Toussaint: "Holy Cow" onMoondog Matinee and "You See Me" onJubilation. In late December 1971, The Band recorded the live albumRock of Ages, which was released in the summer of 1972. OnRock of Ages, they were bolstered by the addition of a horn section, with arrangements written by Toussaint. Dylan appeared on stage onNew Year's Eve and performed four songs with the group, including a version of "When I Paint My Masterpiece".
In 1973, the Band released thecovers albumMoondog Matinee. There was no tour in support of the album, which garnered mixed reviews. However, on July 28, 1973, they played atSummer Jam at Watkins Glen, a massive concert that took place at the Grand Prix Raceway outsideWatkins Glen, New York. The event, which was attended by over 600,000 fans, also featured the Grateful Dead andthe Allman Brothers Band. It was during the event that discussions began about a possible tour with Bob Dylan.[34] By late 1973, Danko, Helm, Hudson and Manuel had joined them, and the first order of business was backing Dylan on his albumPlanet Waves. The album was released concurrently with their joint 1974 tour, in which they played 40 shows in North America during January and February 1974. Later that year, the tour was documented on the live albumBefore the Flood.
During that time, the Band brought inPlanet Waves producerRob Fraboni to help design a music studio for the group. By 1975, the studio,Shangri-La, was completed. That year, the Band recorded and releasedNorthern Lights – Southern Cross, their first album of new material since 1971. All eight songs were written solely by Robertson. Despite comparatively poor record sales, the album is favored by critics and fans.[citation needed] Levon Helm regards this album highly in his book,This Wheel's on Fire: "It was the best album we had done sinceThe Band." The album also produced more experimentation from Hudson, switching to synthesizers, showcased on "Jupiter Hollow".
By the mid-1970s, Robbie Robertson was weary of touring. AfterNorthern Lights – Southern Cross failed to meet commercial expectations, much of the group's 1976 tour was confined to theaters and smaller arenas in secondary markets (including theSanta Cruz Civic Auditorium, theLong Island Arena and the Champlain Valley Expo inEssex Junction, Vermont), culminating in an opening slot for the ascendantZZ Top at theNashville Fairgrounds in September.[35] In early September, Richard Manuel suffered a severe neck injury in a boating accident in Texas,[36] prompting Robertson to urge The Band to retire from live performances after staging a "farewell concert" known asThe Last Waltz. Following an October 30 appearance onSaturday Night Live, the event, includingturkey dinner for the audience of 5,000, was held on November 25 (Thanksgiving Day) of 1976 at theWinterland Ballroom inSan Francisco[37] and featured a horn section with arrangements by Allen Toussaint and an all-star lineup of guests, including Canadian artistsJoni Mitchell andNeil 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) includedMuddy Waters,Dr. John, Van Morrison,Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton,Ron Wood,Bobby Charles,Neil Diamond, andPaul Butterfield. The concert was filmed by Robertson's friend, filmmakerMartin Scorsese.[38]
In 1977, the Band released their seventh studio albumIslands, which fulfilled their record contract with Capitol so that a plannedLast Waltz film and album could be released on theWarner Bros. label.Islands contained a mix of originals and covers, and was the last with the Band's original lineup. Also in 1977, the group recorded soundstage performances with country singerEmmylou Harris ("Evangeline") and gospel-soul groupthe Staple Singers ("The Weight"); Scorsese combined these new performances—as well as interviews he had conducted with the group—with the 1976 concert footage. The resultingconcert film–documentary was released in 1978, along with athree-LP soundtrack.
Helm later wrote aboutThe Last Waltz in his autobiography,This Wheel's on Fire, in which he made the case that it had been primarily Robbie Robertson's project and that Robertson had forced The Band's breakup on the rest of the group.[39] Robertson offered a different take in a 1986 interview:
I made my big statement. I did the movie, I made a three-record album about it—and if this is only my statement, not theirs, I'll accept that. They're saying, "Well, that was really his trip, not our trip." Well, fine. I'll take the best music film that's ever been made, and make it my statement. I don't have any problems with that. None at all.[40]
The original quintet performed together one last time: on March 1, 1978 after the late set of a Rick Danko solo show atThe Roxy, the group performed "Stage Fright", "The Shape I'm In", and "The Weight" for an encore.[41]
The Band resumed touring in 1983 without Robertson.[42] An accomplished musician fromWoodstock, New York, Jim Weider, became lead guitarist. Robertson had found success with a solo career and as aHollywood music producer. As a result of their diminished popularity, they performed in theaters and clubs as headliners and took support slots in larger venues for onetime peers such as the Grateful Dead andCrosby, Stills and Nash.
After a performance inWinter Park, Florida, on March 4, 1986, Manuelhanged himself, aged 42, in his motel room.[43][44] He had suffered for many years from alcoholism and drug addiction and had been clean and sober for several years beginning in 1978 but had begun drinking and using drugs again by 1984.[45] Manuel's position as pianist was filled by old friend Stan Szelest (who died not long after) and then by Richard Bell. Bell had played with Ronnie Hawkins after the departure of the original Hawks, and was best known from his days as a member of Janis Joplin'sFull Tilt Boogie Band.
The Band was inducted into theCanadian Music Hall of Fame at the1989 Juno Awards, where Robertson was reunited with original members Danko and Hudson. With Canadian country rock superstarsBlue Rodeo as a back-up band,Music Express called the 1989 Juno appearance a symbolic "passing of the torch" from The Band to Blue Rodeo.
In 1990, Capitol Records began to re-release the records from the 1970s.[46] The remaining three members continued to tour and record albums with a succession of musicians filling Manuel's and Robertson's roles. The Band appeared atBob Dylan's 30th anniversary concert in New York City in October 1992, where they performed their version of Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece". In 1993, the group released their eighth studio album,Jericho.Jericho was their first album recorded sinceThe Last Waltz 17 years prior, and also their first studio album sinceIslands.[47][48] Without Robbie Robertson as primary lyricist, much of thesongwriting for the album came from outside of the group. Also in the same year, The Band, along withRonnie Hawkins, Bob Dylan, and other performers appeared at PresidentBill Clinton's 1993 "Blue Jean Bash" inauguration party.[49]
In 1994, The Band performed atWoodstock '94. Later 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 theRock and Roll Hall of Fame. Helm, who had been at odds with Robertson for years over accusations of stolen songwriting credits, did not attend.[50] In February 1996, The Band withthe Crickets recorded "Not Fade Away", released on thetribute albumNot Fade Away (Remembering Buddy Holly). The Band released two more albums afterJericho:High on the Hog (1996) andJubilation (1998), the latter of which included guest appearances by Eric Clapton andJohn Hiatt. Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998 and was unable to sing for several years but he eventually regained the use of his voice. In 1998, the group revealed they were working on a follow-up album toJubilation that has not been released.[51]
The final song the group recorded together was their 1999 version of Bob Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings", which they contributed to the Dylan tribute albumTangled Up in Blues. On December 10, 1999, Rick Danko died in his sleep at the age of 55. Following his death, The Band broke up for good. The final configuration of the group included Richard Bell (piano), Randy Ciarlante (drums), and Jim Weider (guitar).
In 2002, Robertson bought all other former members' financial interests in the group (with the exception of Helm's),[52] giving him major control of the presentation of the group's material, including latter-day compilations.
Richard Bell died ofmultiple myeloma in June 2007.
The Band received a Lifetime AchievementGrammy Award on February 9, 2008,[53] but there was no reunion of former members. In honor of the event, Helm held aMidnight Ramble in Woodstock.[54]
Levon Helm died at the age of 71 on April 19, 2012, after a prolonged battle with throat cancer.[55]
Robbie Robertson died at the age of 80 on August 9, 2023, after battling prostate cancer.[56]
Garth Hudson, the last living original member of the Band, died at the age of 87 on January 21, 2025.[57]
The Band's style "thematically and musically fuse[d] the past and the present" by combining various genres.[58] Although primarily incorporating oldcountry music and earlyrock and roll, therhythm section often was reminiscent ofStax- orMotown-style rhythm and blues, and Robertson citesCurtis Mayfield and theStaple Singers as major influences, resulting in asynthesis of manymusical genres. Singers Manuel, Danko, and Helm each brought a distinctive voice to The Band: Helm'sSouthern accent was prevalent in his raw and powerful vocals, Danko sang tenor with a distinctively choppy enunciation, and Manuel alternated between falsetto and a soulful baritone. The singers regularly blended singingharmonies. Though the singing was more or less evenly shared among the three, both Danko and Helm have stated that they saw Manuel as The Band's "lead" singer.[59]
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 oftimbres from hisLowrey organ. Helm's drumming was often praised: critic Jon Carroll declared that Helm was "the only drummer who can make you cry," while prolific session drummerJim Keltner admits to appropriating several of Helm's techniques.[60] Producer John Simon is often cited as a "sixth member" of The Band for producing and playing onMusic from Big Pink, co-producing and playing onThe Band, and playing on other songs up through The Band's 1993 reunion albumJericho.[61]
Robertson is credited as writer or co-writer of the majority of The Band's songs and, as a result, has received most of the songwriting royalties generated from the music. That developed into a point of contention, especially for Helm. In his 1993 autobiography,This Wheel's on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of The Band, Helm disputed the validity of the songwriting credits as listed on the albums and explained that The Band's songs were developed in collaboration with all members. Danko concurred with Helm:
I think Levon's book hits the nail on the head about where Robbie and Albert Grossman and some of those people went wrong and when The Band stopped being The Band... I'm truly friends with everybody but, hey—it could happen to Levon, too. When people take themselves too seriously and believe too much in their own bullshit, they usually get in trouble.[62]
Robertson denied that Helm had written any of the songs attributed to Robertson.[63]Furthermore, the songs recorded by Levon Helm as a solo artist were almost entirely written by others. For the albumsLevon Helm (1978),American Son,Levon Helm (1982),Dirt Farmer, andElectric Dirt he rarely participated in songwriting.[64][65]
The Band was inducted into theCanadian Music Hall of Fame in 1989[66] and theRock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.[67] In 2004,Rolling Stone ranked them 50th on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time",[68] and ranked "The Weight" 41st on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[69] In 2008, the group received theGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2014, they were inducted intoCanada's Walk of Fame.[70][71]
The Band "ushered in theroots-rock of the '70s, embodyingAmericana in a way that no one else has approached," according to Mark Deming ofAllMusic. He further explained:
Their work reflected the influences of country, blues, folk, and other forms of American roots music in a way that was fresh, organic, and innovative, and showed a creative maturity that was a revelation in the psychedelic era.[58]
Music critic Bruce Eder said that The Band as "one of the most popular and influential rock groups in the world, their music embraced by critics... as seriously as the music ofthe Beatles andthe Rolling Stones."[72]
The Band has influenced numerous bands, songwriters and performers, including the Grateful Dead, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young,[73]Led Zeppelin,[74]Elvis Costello,[75]Elton John,[76]Phish,[77] andPink Floyd.[78] The albumMusic from Big Pink, in particular, is credited with contributing to Clapton's decision to leave thesupergroupCream. In his introduction of The Band during the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert, Clapton announced that in 1968 he had heard the album, "and it changed my life."[79] The bandNazareth took their name from a line in "The Weight". GuitaristRichard Thompson has acknowledged the album's influence onFairport Convention'sLiege and Lief, and journalist John Harris has asserted that The Band's debut also influenced the spirit of the Beatles' back-to-basics albumLet It Be as well as the Rolling Stones' string of roots-infused albums that began withBeggars Banquet.[80][c] George Harrison said that his song "All Things Must Pass" was heavily influenced by The Band and that, while writing the song, he imagined Levon Helm singing it.[81] Meanwhile, "The Weight" has been covered numerous times, and in various musical styles. In a 1969 interview, Robbie Robertson remarked on the group's influence:
We certainly didn't want everybody to go out and get a banjo and a fiddle player. We were trying to calm things down a bit though. What we're going to do now is go toMuscle Shoals, Alabama, and record four sides, fourpsychedelic songs. Total freak-me songs. Just to show that we have no hard feelings. Just pretty good rock and roll.[82]
In the 1990s, a new generation of bands influenced by The Band began to gain popularity, includingCounting Crows,the Wallflowers, andthe Black Crowes. Counting Crows indicated this influence with their tribute to the lateRichard Manuel, "If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)", from their albumHard Candy. TheBlack Crowes frequently cover songs by The Band during live performances, such as "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", which appears on their DVD/CDFreak 'n' Roll into the Fog.[83] They have also recorded at Helm's studio in Woodstock.
The Hold Steady was formed after members Craig Finn and Tad Kubler watchedThe Last Waltz.[84] Rick Danko and Robbie Robertson are name-checked in the lyrics of "The Swish" from the Hold Steady's 2004 debut albumAlmost Killed Me.[85] Also that year,southern rock-revivalistsDrive-By Truckers released theJason Isbell penned track "Danko/Manuel" on the albumThe Dirty South.
The Band also inspired Grace Potter, ofGrace Potter and the Nocturnals, to form the band in 2002. In an interview with the Montreal Gazette, Potter said:
The Band blew my mind. I thought if this is what Matt [Burr] meant when he said "Let's start a rock 'n' roll band,"... that was the kind of rock 'n' roll band I could believe in.[86]
A tribute album, entitledEndless Highway: The Music of The Band, released in January 2007, included contributions fromMy Morning Jacket,Death Cab for Cutie,Gomez,Guster,Bruce Hornsby,Jack Johnson andALO,Lee Ann Womack, the Allman Brothers Band,Blues Traveler,Jakob Dylan,Rosanne Cash, and others.
Members ofWilco,Clap Your Hands Say Yeah,the Shins,Dr Dog,Yellowbirds,Ween,Furthur, and other bands stagedThe Complete Last Waltz in 2012 and 2013.[87] Their performances included all 41 songs from the original 1976 concert in sequence, even those edited out of the film. Musical directorSam Cohen of Yellowbirds claims "the movie is pretty ingrained in me. I've watched it probably 100 times."[87]
An incarnation of The Band's legacy, The Weight Band, originated inside the barn of Levon Helm in 2012 when Jim Weider and Randy Ciarlante, both former members of The Band were performing "Songs of The Band" withGarth Hudson,Jimmy Vivino and Byron Isaacs. In July 2017, PBS'sInfinity Hall Live program began airing a televised performance by The Weight Band, featuring Band covers and new music by the band.[88] Every year on the Wednesday before and the Friday after Thanksgiving, Dayton, Ohio NPR affiliateWYSO andThe Dayton Art Institute host a tribute toThe Last Waltz.[89] Frequently selling out, the show features more than 30 local musicians. A similar event takes place annually in Madison, Wisconsin, on the Saturday night after Thanksgiving.
The Band are the subjects of the 2019 documentary filmOnce Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band, which premiered at the2019 Toronto International Film Festival.[90] The Band is the subject of an extensive historical podcast,The Band: A History, currently covering the entire history of the group.[91]
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