![]() ![]() In “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” he imagined the Civil War through the eyes of a defeated Confederate. At times his songs sounded not just created, but unearthed. ![]() 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 Howlin' Wolf to the gospel harmonies of the Swan Silvertones. They were originally called the Hawks, but ended up as The Band – a conceit their fans would say they earned – because people would point to them when they were with Dylan and refer to them as “the band.” Besides Robertson, the group featured Arkansan drummer-singer Levon Helmand three other Canadians: bassist-singer-songwriter Rick Danko, keyboardist singer-songwriter Richard Manuel and all-around musical wizard Garth Hudson. The Band began as supporting players for rockabilly star Ronnie Hawkins 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. His life had a “Candide”-like quality as he found himself among many of the giants of the rock era – 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 Canadian-born Robertson was a high school dropout and one-man melting pot – part-Jewish, part-Mohawk and Cayuga – 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. ![]()
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