2023-08-10 03:01:00
Robbie Robertson, the Band’s lead guitarist and songwriter who distilled the essence and helped revolutionize American music on classics like “The Weight,” “Up on Cripple Creek” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” died on Wednesday 9 at 80 years old. Robertson passed away surrounded by his family in Los Angeles “following a long illness,” publicist Ray Costa said in a statement.
From their years as Bob Dylan’s masterful backing group to their own stardom as representatives of the community and classical virtuosity, The Band profoundly influenced popular music of the 1960s and ’70s, first by amplifying Dylan’s polarizing transition from folk artist to rock star and then, absorbing Dylan’s works and his influences to create a new sound steeped in America’s past.
Robertson, who was born in Canada, was a high school dropout and a melting pot of one man, part Jewish, part Mohawk and Cayuga. The musician fell in love with the seemingly limitless sounds and ways of his adopted country, writing with a sense of wonder and discovery at a time when the Vietnam War had alienated millions of young Americans. His life had a “Candid”-like quality, as he found himself among many of the giants of the rock era: getting guitar advice from Buddy Holly, attending early performances by Aretha Franklin and the Velvet Underground, smoking pot with the Beatles, watching the songwriting team of Leiber and Stoller develop material, chatting with Jimi Hendrix as a struggling musician who called himself Jimmy James.
The Band opened for rockabilly star Ronnie Hawkins in the early 1960s, and through their years in alternative venues and bars, forged a depth and versatility that opened them up to virtually any type of music in any type of venue. around. In addition to Robertson, the group featured Arkansas drummer and singer Levon Helm and three other Canadians: bassist and singer-songwriter Rick Danko, keyboardist and singer-songwriter Richard Manuel, and musical wizard Garth Hudson. They were originally called The Hawks, but ended up as The Band, a title their fans would say they earned, because people would point at them when they were with Dylan and refer to them as “the band.”
The Independent of Great Britain. Special for Page/12.
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