Robbie Robertson was a Transcendent Musical Force
Bob Dylan and The Band touring in Chicago, 1974 (Left to right: Rick Danko (bass), Robbie Robertson (guitar), Bob Dylan (guitar), Levon Helm(drums) Date 1974. Photo by Jim Summaria, CC BY-SA 3.0
Musician, producer, songwriter, and I suppose shrewd music businessman Robbie Robertson passed away on August 9. He was 80 years old. His passing means we only have one living member of The Band left, the eldest member, Garth Hudson. My introduction to Robertson was through digesting copious amounts of music and books about Bob Dylan. As many people who know me best know, I am something of an amateur Dylanologist. Plus, my father used to have the classic rock station tuned in nearly all the time wherein a lot of The Band’s classics were on rotation.
Before Robbie was performing solid guitar work for Dylan, he and the rest of what would become The Band was known as “The Hawks” and performed with the legendary Ronnie Hawkins. From there, and some not that important stuff in between, they joined up with Bob and the rest is history.
His resume includes several appearances live and in studio with Bob Dylan, The Band (where he was the primary songwriter), solo after the band, and working with Martin Scorsese on several notable films, including his latest effort, Killers of the Flower Moon. He was an extremely talented songwriter and a musical force. His influence will be greatly missed.
As I noted before, Robbie Robertson wrote the bulk of the songs for The Band from their inception until their planned demise in 1978, however, surviving members and a cast of randos released a few more Robertson-less albums from 1983 until 1999. There was some contention about the songwriting, but I err on the Robertson side of that argument. The originator of the criticism came from Levon Helm, who was a gifted drummer, vocalist, etc., but had very few songwriting credits to his name when compared to Robertson. Even in his own solo career.
What is interesting is Robbie Robertson’s songwriting was nearly always written with his bandmates in mind. “It Makes no Difference”, for example, is a fantastic song, but it’s Rick Danko’s vocals that make you truly remember it. Same with songs like “Up on Cripple Creek”, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”, and of course, “The Weight” are known not just for the lyricism, but for the powerful vocals from Helm, Danko, and Richard Manuel.
During the early 80s, Roberson put out some decent solo work and scored a couple of hits with “Broken Arrow” and “Somewhere Down the Crazy River”, but decided not to tour extensively, so his solo worked failed to gain the kind of traction I think it deserved. It was a markedly different sound as well. The main reason for his initial collaboration with Scorsese for The Last Waltz was because he wanted The Band to get off the road and take a breather. He also recognized that they could still put out music, just not tour a la late period Beatles. Alas, as previously mentioned, the remaining members of The Band pressed on until the untimely deaths of both Richard Manuel and Rick Danko.
I put together a playlist to remember Robbie and the music he was best known for.
My dad saw the Band back Dylan in college around when Dylan went electric. He said he was the only one who liked it.Report
Your dad was ahead of his time then.Report
I remember reading a review of his first solo album, I think it was in Rolling Stone but who knows, and they had an older picture of him from his days with the Band. I’d been a band fan for a long time but had no idea what any of them looked like. Robertson had oversized collars and a leather blazer with an unkempt mop on his head. He looked so cool.
Years later, my friend was a drummer in a modestly successful band and he was showing me pictures they had done for their next tour. The lead singer was dressed exactly like Robertson in that Rolling Stone (?) picture. I said as much and my friend begged me not to tell his singer that I made the connection. “He won’t shut up about Robbie Robertson.”Report