The BandB次元官网网址檚 lead guitarist and songwriter who in such classics as B次元官网网址淭he Weight,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淯p on Cripple CreekB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淭he Night They Drove Old Dixie DownB次元官网网址� mined and helped reshape American music, has died at 80.
Robertson died surrounded by family, a statement from his manager said.
From their years as masterful backing group to their own stardom as embodiments of old-fashioned community and virtuosity, The Band profoundly influenced popular music in the 1960s and B次元官网网址�70s, first by literally amplifying DylanB次元官网网址檚 polarizing transition from folk artist to rock star and then by absorbing the works of Dylan and DylanB次元官网网址檚 influences as they fashioned a new sound immersed in the American past.
The Canadian-born Robertson was a high school dropout and one-man melting pot B次元官网网址� part-Jewish, part-Mohawk and Cayuga B次元官网网址� who fell in love with the seemingly limitless sounds and byways of his adopted country and wrote out of a sense of amazement and discovery at a time when the Vietnam War had alienated millions of young Americans.
His life had a B次元官网网址淐andideB次元官网网址�-like quality as he found himself among many of the giants of the rock era B次元官网网址� getting guitar tips from Buddy Holly, taking in early performances by Aretha Franklin and by the Velvet Underground, smoking pot with the Beatles, watching the songwriting team of Leiber and Stoller develop material, chatting with Jimi Hendrix when he was a struggling musician calling himself Jimmy James.
The Band began as supporting players for in the early 1960s and through their years together in bars and juke joints forged a depth and versatility that opened them to virtually any kind of music in any kind of setting.
Besides Robertson, the group featured Arkansan drummer-singer and three other Canadians: bassist-singer-songwriter Rick Danko, keyboardist singer-songwriter Richard Manuel and all-around musical wizard Garth Hudson. They were originally called the Hawks, but ended up as The Band B次元官网网址� a conceit their fans would say they earned B次元官网网址� because people would point to them when they were with Dylan and refer to them as B次元官网网址渢he band.B次元官网网址�
They remain defined by their first two albums, B次元官网网址淢usic from Big PinkB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淭he Band,B次元官网网址� both released in the late 1960s. The rock scene was turning away from the psychedelic extravagances of the BeatlesB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淪gt PepperB次元官网网址檚 Lonely Hearts Club BandB次元官网网址� and a wave of sound effects, long jams and lysergic lyrics.
B次元官网网址淢usic from Big Pink,B次元官网网址� named for the old house near Woodstock, New York, where Band members lived and gathered, was for many the sound of coming home. The mood was intimate, the lyrics alternately playful, cryptic and yearning, drawn from blues, gospel, folk and country music.
The Band itself seemed to stand for selflessness and a shared and vital history, with all five members making distinctive contributions and appearing in publicity photos in plain, dark clothes.
Through the B次元官网网址淏asement TapesB次元官网网址� they had made with Dylan in 1967 and through their own albums, The Band has been widely credited as a founding source for Americana or roots music. Fans and peers would speak of their lives being changed.
Eric Clapton broke up with his British supergroup Cream and journeyed to Woodstock in hopes he could join The Band, which influenced albums ranging from The Grateful DeadB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淲orkingmanB次元官网网址檚 DeadB次元官网网址� to Elton JohnB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淭umbleweed Connection.B次元官网网址�
The BandB次元官网网址檚 songs were covered by Franklin, Joan Baez, the Staple Singers and many others. During a television performance by the Beatles of B次元官网网址淗ey Jude,B次元官网网址� Paul McCartney shouted out lyrics from B次元官网网址淭he Weight.B次元官网网址�
Like Dylan, Robertson was a self-taught musicologist and storyteller who absorbed everything American from the novels of William Faulkner to the scorching blues of HowlinB次元官网网址� Wolf to the gospel harmonies of the Swan Silvertones. At times his songs sounded not just created, but unearthed.
In B次元官网网址淭he Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,B次元官网网址� he imagined the Civil War through the eyes of a defeated Confederate. with its lead vocals passed around among group members like a communal wine glass, he evoked a pilgrimB次元官网网址檚 arrival to a town where nothing seems impossible:
B次元官网网址淚 pulled into Nazareth, was feelinB次元官网网址� about half past dead / I just need some place where I can lay my head / Hey, mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed? / He just grinned and shook my hand, B次元官网网址楴o,B次元官网网址� was all he said.B次元官网网址�
The Band played at the 1969 Woodstock festival, not far from where they lived, and became newsworthy enough to appear on the cover of Time magazine. But the spirit behind their best work was already dissolving.
Albums such as B次元官网网址淪tage FrightB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淐ahootsB次元官网网址� were disappointing even for Robertson, who would acknowledge that he was struggling to find fresh ideas. While Manuel and Danko were both frequent contributors to songs during their B次元官网网址淏asement TapesB次元官网网址� days, by the time B次元官网网址淐ahootsB次元官网网址� was released in 1971, Robertson was the dominant writer.
They toured frequently, recording the acclaimed live album B次元官网网址淩ock of AgesB次元官网网址� at Madison Square Garden and joining Dylan for 1974 shows that led to another highly praised concert release, B次元官网网址淏efore the Flood.B次元官网网址� But in 1976, after Manuel broke his neck in a boating accident, Robertson decided he needed a break from the road and organized rockB次元官网网址檚 ultimate sendoff, an all-star gathering at San FranciscoB次元官网网址檚 Winterland Ballroom that included Dylan, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Muddy Waters and many others.
The concert was and the basis for his celebrated documentary B次元官网网址淭he Last Waltz,B次元官网网址� released in 1978.
Robertson had intended The Band to continue recording together but B次元官网网址淭he Last WaltzB次元官网网址� helped permanently sever his friendship with Helm, whom he had once looked to as an older brother. In interviews and in his 1993 memoir B次元官网网址淲heel on Fire,B次元官网网址� Helm accused of Robertson of greed and outsized ego, noting that Robertson had ended up owning their musical catalog and calling B次元官网网址淭he Last WaltzB次元官网网址� a vanity project designed to glorify Robertson.
In response, Robertson contended that he had taken control of the group because the others B次元官网网址� excepting Hudson B次元官网网址� were too burdened by drug and alcohol problems to make decisions on their own.
B次元官网网址淚t hit me hard that in a band like ours, if we werenB次元官网网址檛 operating on all cylinders, it threw the whole machine off course,B次元官网网址� Robertson wrote in his memoir B次元官网网址淭estimony,B次元官网网址� published in 2016.
The Band regrouped without Robertson in the early 1980s, and Robertson went on to a long career and soundtrack composer. His self-titled 1987 album was certified gold and featured the hit single B次元官网网址淪how Down at Big SkyB次元官网网址� and the ballad B次元官网网址淔allen Angel,B次元官网网址� a tribute to Manuel, who was found dead in 1986 in what was ruled a suicide (Danko died of heart failure in 1999, and Helm of cancer in 2012).
Robertson, who moved to Los Angeles in the 1970s while the others stayed near Woodstock, remained close to Scorsese and helped oversee the soundtracks for B次元官网网址淭he Color of Money,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淭he King of Comedy,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淭he DepartedB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淭he IrishmanB次元官网网址� among others. He also produced the Neil Diamond album B次元官网网址淏eautiful NoiseB次元官网网址� and explored his heritage through such albums as B次元官网网址淢usic for the Native AmericansB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淐ontact from the Underworld of Redboy.B次元官网网址�
The Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994; Robertson attended, Helm did not.
In 2020, Robertson looked back and mourned in the documentary B次元官网网址淥nce Were BrothersB次元官网网址� and in the title ballad, on which Robertson sang B次元官网网址淲hen the light goes out and you canB次元官网网址檛 go on / You miss your brothers, but now theyB次元官网网址檙e gone.B次元官网网址�
Robertson married the Canadian journalist Dominique Bourgeois in 1967. They had three children before divorcing.
Jaime Royal Robertson was born in Toronto and spent summers at the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve where his mother Rosemarie Dolly Chrysler grew up. He never met his father, Alexander David Klegerman, who died before he was born and whose existence Robertson only learned of years later. His mother had since married a factory worker, James Robertson, whom Robbie Robertson at first believed was his biological parent.
Music was an escape from what he remembered as a violent and abusive household; his parents separated when he was in his early teens. He would watch relatives play guitar and sing at the Six Nations reserve, and became B次元官网网址渕esmerizedB次元官网网址� by how absorbed they were in their own performances. Robertson was soon practicing guitar himself and was playing in bands and writing songs in his teens.
He had a knack for impressing his elders. When he was 15, his group opened for Hawkins at a club in Toronto. After overhearing Hawkins say he was in need of new material, Robertson hurried home, worked up a couple of songs and brought them over to his hotel. Hawkins recorded both of them, B次元官网网址淪omeone Like You,B次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淗ey Boba Lu,B次元官网网址� and Robertson would soon find himself on a train to HawkinsB次元官网网址� home base in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Over the next few years, he toured with Hawkins in the U.S. and Canada as members left and the performers who eventually became The Band were brought in. By 1963, Robertson and the others had grown apart from Hawkins and were ready to work on their own, recording a handful of singles as the Canadian Squires and stepping into rock history when mutual acquaintances suggested they should tour behind Dylan, then rebelling against his image as folk troubadour and infuriating fans who thought he had sold out.
In 1965-66, they were DylanB次元官网网址檚 co-adventurers in some of rockB次元官网网址檚 most momentous shows, with Dylan playing an acoustic opening set, then joined by the Hawks for an electric set that was booed so fiercely, Helm dropped out and was replaced on the road by Mickey Jones.
As captured in audio recordings and in footage by filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker seen decades later in the Dylan documentary B次元官网网址淣o Direction Home,B次元官网网址� the music on stage for such Dylan songs as B次元官网网址淛ust Like Tom ThumbB次元官网网址檚 BluesB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淏allad of a Thin ManB次元官网网址� more than equaled the fury of its detractors, culminating in a May 1966 show at Manchester, England, when one fan screamed out B次元官网网址淛udas!B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 belieeeeve you,B次元官网网址� Dylan snarled in response. B次元官网网址淵ouB次元官网网址檙e a liar!B次元官网网址� Calling on the Hawks to B次元官网网址漰lay fB次元官网网址擝次元官网网址攊ng loud,B次元官网网址� he led them through an all-out finale, B次元官网网址淟ike a Rolling Stone.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淎 kind of madness was percolating,B次元官网网址� Robertson wrote in his memoir. B次元官网网址淭he whole atmosphere was heightened. I adjusted the strap on my Telecaster so I could release it with a quick thumb movement and use the guitar as a weapon. The concerts were starting to feel that unpredictable.B次元官网网址�
Later in 1966, Dylan was badly injured in a motorcycle accident and recuperated in the Woodstock area, where The Band also soon settled.
Under no contractual obligations or any sort of deadlines, Dylan and his fellow musicians stepped out of time altogether. They jammed on old country and Appalachian songs and worked on such originals as B次元官网网址淭ears of RageB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淚 Shall Be ReleasedB次元官网网址� that were originally intended as demo recordings for other artists. B次元官网网址淭he Basement Tapes,B次元官网网址� as they were eventually called, were among rockB次元官网网址檚 first bootlegs before being released officially B次元官网网址� in part in 1975, and in a full six-CD set in 2014.
Working and writing with Dylan encouraged The Band to try an album of its own. B次元官网网址淢usic from Big PinkB次元官网网址� featured the Dylan-Danko collaboration B次元官网网址淭his WheelB次元官网网址檚 On FireB次元官网网址� and Dylan-ManuelB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淭ears of Rage,B次元官网网址� along with such Band originals as ManuelB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淚n a StationB次元官网网址� and RobertsonB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淐aledonia Mission.B次元官网网址�
In his memoir, Robertson remembered the first time their old boss listened to B次元官网网址淢usic from Big Pink.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淎fter each song, Bob looked at B次元官网网址榟isB次元官网网址� band with proud eyes. When B次元官网网址楾he WeightB次元官网网址� came on, he said, B次元官网网址楾his is fantastic. Who wrote that song?B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� he wrote. B次元官网网址淏次元官网网址楳e,B次元官网网址� I answered. He shook his head, slapped me on the arm, and said, B次元官网网址楧amn! You wrote that song?B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�
