Great Music From "The Band"

Ever since I saw the The Last Waltz many years ago, I've been a die hard fan of The Band. While critically they received much praise during their career during the late 60s until their demise in 1976, I've often felt they never received their rightful position as one of the greatest bands of all time from the publics' perspective. I would definitely rank Robbie Robertson's song writing genius on par with Lennon/McCartney or Jagger/Richards. The music was steeped in the folk lore of the deep south, despite the fact that all but one member of the group hailed from Canada.

They began as The Hawks, a Rockabilly group fronted by Ronnie Hawkins in the late 50s and early 60s. Hawkins moved from Arkansas to Ontario in 1958 where he met Canadians Robbie Robertson, Richard Manual, Rick Danko, and Garth Hudson. Soon after, the talented musicians replaced the original members of Hawkins' group, with the exception of fellow Arkansas native Levon Helm.

Hawkins parted company with the other members of the band in the early 60s, but they continued to perform as The Hawks. In 1965, they backed Bob Dylan for his infamous transition to electrified folk. It was an interesting marriage which lead to a broadening of the group's musical range. Before their association with Dylan, neither Robertson or his fellow band mates had much knowledge of the folk scene, whose audience came from a different side of the tracks than the followers of their primarily dance oriented music. The fans were not particularly receptive to this new music, routinely booing Dylan and his backing group.

Continuing to work with Dylan, The Hawks settled in Woodstock, New York and began work on their first album. In 1968, Music From Big Pink was released under the their new name, The Band. Eric Clapton was so taken by this recording that he sought to join them, but was rejected. Regardless, the Rock & Roots sound The Band created certainly influenced the direction Clapton was heading with his own music. With Cream winding down, he soon returned to a more basic, traditional blues approach to his playing.

On Thanksgiving Day 1976, The Band played a farewell concert (The Last Waltz) at Winterland in San Fransisco. An all star bill, including Rock icons Clapton, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan and Muddy Waters helped to make this one of the greatest concerts of the 70s era. In the wake of this gala swan song, both Robertson and Helm pursued acting careers. The others continued to record, and occasionally play together. Richard Manual committed suicide in 1986; Rick Danko died of heart failure in his sleep shortly after a performance in 1999.

What was most impressive about The Band was their absolutely flawless treatment of most musical idioms: Country, Rock, Jazz, Blues...even classical. They almost seemed a bit out of time in the violent, radical late 60s -- certainly their music was unique and defied classification.

I'll leave you with a few of my favorites from this phenomenal collection of masterful musicians. You just don't hear music like this these days.