RIP Robbie Robertson, Guitarist & Main Songwriter For The Band, Solo Artist, Gone at 80, Our Thoughts And Memories Of His Music
“If you’re out there, can you reach me? And lay a flower in the snow” – “Fallen Angel,” Robbie Robertson
I was heads down on my post on my playlist of songs about School yesterday, when I heard the very sad news that legendary guitarist and songwriter for The Band, Robbie Robertson had passed at 80 years old. Apparently he succumbed to prostate cancer… I didn’t even know he was ill. My thoughts go out to his family, friends and loved ones. I have to admit this one hit me hard. I’m a huge fan of the Band and of much of Robbie’s solo music. I have to admit, every time I hit the “publish” button the last few weeks ago I look up to discover another legend has passed. It’s been a tough few weeks with the loss of Tony Bennett, Sinead O’Connor, and Eagle Randy Meisner. I don’t usually write on successive days, but Robertson’s passing begs for comment… Somehow, the loss of Robbie hits closer to home to me… probably because I was so intimately familiar with his music. The man wrote some incredibly iconic songs including “The Weight,” “Up On Cripple Creek,” and “The Night They Drove Ol’ Dixie Down.” He will be missed.
I’ve mentioned in these pages that sometimes you take an odd path into someone’s music. I had always been aware of the Band and their music. I knew the hits, mentioned above, and I knew that they’d backed Dylan. I knew they were connected to The Basement Tapes. But it wasn’t until I was exiled to Ft Smith, Arkansas that I started to discover the Band. Actually, it was Robbie that I discovered first which is probably the reverse of most people’s journey. It was in the fall of 1987, about two months after I’d been sent by my corporate masters to the lonely outpost in Arkansas when Robbie released his first solo LP, 11 years after the Band broke up, the eponymous titled Robbie Robertson. I was sitting on my used fold-out couch watching MTV, where I discovered a lot of music in those days as the local radio stations sucked, and I heard this song “Showdown At Big Sky.” I was immediately enamored.
I mentioned the song, and Robbie Robertson, to my friend Arkansas Joel… I recall saying something like, “Wasn’t he in the Band?” A flabbergasted Arkansas Joel was a huge fan of the Band and gave me the quick, exasperated education. Based on his raving about them and Robbie in particular I bought the album. I wasn’t prepared for how amazing the whole thing was. The song “Somewhere Down The Crazy River” has been a favorite of mine since the day I heard it. The album was produced by Daniel Lanois who had worked with U2 and Peter Gabriel – both of whom show up on the album along with members of the Bodeans – and they all crushed it. “Testimony” is an amazing duet between Bono and Robertson. “Broken Arrow” was later covered by Rod Stewart, but Robbie’s is the definitive version. “Fallen Angel” for his fallen band mate Richard Manuel was a gorgeous opener. It was the perfect solo debut. Everyone should own that album. I wore this album out!
Once I’m into someone’s music I start to explore the entire catalog. And in an odd juxtaposition of most people’s experience I went from Robbie’s solo work backwards to his work in the Band. Canadian Robertson was already a virtuoso guitar player as a teenager when he was asked by Arkansan Ronnie Hawkins, “The Hawk,” to join his backing band. Ronnie already had another Arkansas native in the band on drums, one Levon Helm. Robbie and Levon became fast friends. Eventually the Hawkins filled out his backing band with three other Canadians, Richard Manuel (piano), Garth Hudson (keyboards) and Rick Danko (bass). Eventually The Hawks broke away from Hawkins and started playing as a unit on their own.
Eventually they caught the attention of Bob Dylan and he chose them to back him on his first tour when he went electric. The fans were not kind to the group they referred to as “the band.” Levon couldn’t take all the booing and quickly left. Eventually the Band followed Dylan to Woodstock, New York where they settled down to write new songs. Levon returned. The rest is history. They recorded what became The Basement Tapes. With their name now changed to The Band, they went on to record Music From Big Pink, one of the greatest debut albums of all time. What was so striking about the album was that it was released at the height of the psychedelic movement. Everything was overblown and these guys show up looking like the James/Younger Gang playing stripped down rootsy Americana. The music was incredibly influential.
Their second album is my favorite. Simply entitled The Band, it’s Robertson at the height of his songwriting powers. They went on to record a number of great albums but I’m not sure they ever reached that level again. Stagefright, their next album, expressed the pressure the Band was feeling to come up with something big. Many members of the group began to turn to drugs and alcohol. Despite the heavy substance abuse, they continued to record great records. Cahoots is a much derided album but listening to it today, I like it. They recorded two of the best live LPs ever, Rock of Ages and The Last Waltz.
Finally, due to the toll the road was taking (and the drugs and booze) and deciding that the road has taken “too many of the great ones,” the Band decided to quit touring. Although that decision, driven by Robbie, was hugely unpopular within the group and eventually caused the break up. Robertson went on to live with and collaborate with Martin Scorcese on a number of film scores over the years. Scorcese filmed The Last Waltz to document that last concert and it’s a great film.
Eventually the Band reformed without Robbie and essentially proved him right about ending the touring when Richard Manuel hung himself after a show in Florida. Eventually Levon wrote an autobiography and accused Robertson of stealing songwriting credits from the rest of the guys. I side with Robertson on this. Most of the stuff they recorded without him was pedestrian save for a few cover songs, Springsteen’s “Atlantic City,” and Dylan’s “Blind Willie McTell.” It was clear Robbie was the principal songwriter of their greatest songs.
After Robbie Robertson, I stayed sporadically interested in Robertson’s solo stuff. I really liked Storyville. I will admit after that it was just the stray tune here and there. But taken on a whole, the music of the Band and Robbie Robertson, Robbie’s music really was a part of the soundtrack of my life. His songs evoke so many memories, not only for me but for so many people.
Robertson was truly a genuine artist and a brilliant one at that. The Rock N Roll Universe keeps shrinking and that makes me sad. I know I’ve spent most of last night and today listening to the Band and I don’t see that ending any time soon. I can’t think of a better way to honor the man. It’s a long hard road… take care of each other out there. Pour something strong and turn up The Band this coming weekend to get you down the road.
Cheers and RIP Robbie Robertson.
Thanks for the great post! This one hurts.
Thank you my friend! Indeed it does. It came as quite a shock. I’m cranking the second album now…
wise choice… gonna start the day with The Band. 🙂
I’ve been making my way through their catalog. Robertson was a virtuoso guitar player but he plays with such economy with them, as if he’s playing a support role in the ensemble… and then he hits you with that great guitar tone on a short but melodic solo and I think, “Oh, yeah, there it is!” What a guitarist! Cheers my friend!
Here’s how I see it: throughout the 1970s, The Band was a hugely respected and very successful band. But Robbie Robertson was tired of touring and probably thought it was best to stop at their peak. But the rest of the band wasn’t ready for that yet. Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Levon Helm were excellent musicians and together with Robbie they had undoubtedly a great influence on each other and it was their collective effort that made the band so great.
In the end, the whole turned out to be greater than the sum of the individual parts and Robbie’s departure caused the close-knit group to fall apart none of them fully recovered from and none of them reached the same level as together with The Band again. When it turned out that Robbie was making a lot of money as the main songwriter and they were left almost empty-handed, the argument started because they believed that they determined the music of The Band as much as Robbie did. And to some extent it was.
After the last performance and The Last Waltz, it became a sad story for most of them – suicide, drugs and grudges.
It was sad to see something so beautiful as The Band end this way.
But let’s remember the beautiful music they left behind and forget all the negative. Rest in peace Levon, Rick, Richard and Robbie.
Guy, excellent summation. I heard Robertson say once, about Levon’s claims about songwriting, “the band interpreted what I wrote and elevated it, but that’s what you do when you’re in a band.” I think you’re spot on in regard to those guys helping him realize his vision when he wrote a song. It is sad to think of the acrimony between the members after all those years of making great music together. I also read somewhere that Helm didn’t walk into Danko’s funeral because Robertson was there. Sad stuff. But in the end we do have this beautiful music to take with us. I listened to almost their entire catalog yesterday and I suspect that I’ll be listening exclusively to the Band for a while now… Thank you for your thoughtful comment and cheers!
Robbie may have taken it for granted that the others took his songs to the next level because that’s what a band is supposed to do. But The Band was not a band like most other bands. Levon, Rick, Richard and Garth were strong individuals who were much more than just members of a band. Levon was the drummer and singer of their greatest hits, Rick was the bass player but also a singer and songwriter. Richard was also singer, piano player, organist and songwriter in his own right. And Garth was the musical director, the teacher and musical jack-of-all-trades.The band could best be compared to, for example, The Beatles or Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Robbie may have thought he was the leader of the group, but I think the others thought otherwise.
I had to get it off my chest because I am so sorry that it all went so wrong. Cheers.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to minimize Robbie’s importance. Not at all.
I’m with you on this! Let’s not forget the insidious influence of booze and drugs. That certainly never helps a volatile situation!
That was beautiful, thank you.
Such a towering contributor to the American songbook and the aural spectrum that musicians create overtime which reveals the psyche of the culture.
One barometer to measure the impact of a songwriter is to assess how many artists of a wide variety cover one’s song. Surely The Weight has to be covered by as wide and diverse array of bands and musicians as any other song out there.
Lastly, to me, there’s a beautiful poetry in that he and Jerry Garcia share the same date of passing. Can’t be a coincidence.
Thank you so much for this insightful comment and the feedback! I think people tend to forget how influential the Band and Robertson’s songs were/are. They didn’t invent Americana but they certainly made it popular at a time when day-glo & psychedelia were all the rage. I know the three part harmonies these guys constructed were a big influence on CSN at the time. And I don’t think the Dead wander into ‘Workingman’s Dead’/’American Beauty’ territory without Robertson and the Band’s influence. All those bands vibing on each other… it was a heady time for music. Cheers!