The Band

Induction Year: 1994

Induction Category: Performer

"Inductees: Rick Danko (bass, vocals; born December 29, 1943, died December 10, 1999), Levon Helm (drums, mandolin, vocals; born May 26, 1942), Garth Hudson (organ, horns; born August 2, 1937), Richard Manuel (piano, drums, vocals; born April 3, 1943, died March 4, 1986), Robbie Robertson (guitar; born July 5, 1943)

The Band, more than any other group, put rock and roll back in touch with its roots. With their ageless songs and solid grasp of musical idioms, the Band reached across the decades, making connections for a generation that was, as an era of violent cultural schisms wound down, in desperate search of them. They projected a sense of community in the turbulent late Sixties and early Seventies - a time when the fabric of community in the United States was fraying. Guitarist Robbie Robertson drew from history in his evocative, cinematic story-songs, and the vocal triumvirate of bassist Rick Danko, drummer Levon Helm and keyboardist Richard Manuel joined in rustic harmony and traded lines in rich, conversational exchanges. Multi-instrumentalist Garth Hudson provided musical coloration in period styles that evoked everything from rural carnivals of the early 20th century to rock and roll revues of the Fifties.

In an era of divisive politics, the Band produced music that crossed generational and historical borders. They did so with an ensemble brilliance borne of many years spent playing on the road. They began as the Hawks, back up rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins, a boisterous journeyman who found steady work in Canada. Four of the five Hawks - guitarist Robertson, bassist Rick Danko, organist Garth Hudson and pianist Richard Manuel - were Canadian. Drummer Levon Helm hailed from Arkansas. Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks toured the states and provinces until late 1963, at which point the backing musicians split from Hawkins to continue on their own as Levon and the Hawks.

recruited them as his backup group for a 1965-66 world tour. As the Hawks (minus Helm, who stayed behind), they helped effect Dylan’s transformation from an acoustic folkie to an electric rock and roller. Those shows were revelatory and controversial, as Dylan and the Hawks plugged in and played with electrifying abandon, arousing great consternation among some folk traditionalists. One of the most legendary of all rock concerts, during which Dylan - backed by Robertson, Manuel, Danko, Hudson and drummer Mickey Jones - faced down a contentious audience in Manchester, England, on May 19, 1966, finally saw official release in 1998 as Live 1966.

Dylan’s collaboration with the Band continued throughout 1966 in upstate New York, where he recuperated from a motorcycle accident. Working in casual sessions with the group (including Helm) at a rented house in Woodstock, Dylan put together a heavily bootlegged body of material that would eventually see release as The Basement Tapes. All the while, the Hawks - now calling themselves the Band - recorded a large number of original songs. The material they wrote and arranged at the pink house, using what drummer Levon Helm described as a “workshop approach,” surfaced on Music from Big Pink and on side four of Dylan’s Basement Tapes.

Appearing in August 1968, Music from Big Pink, went against the grain of the rock mainstream by presenting a clutch of enduring songs that had a rustic, backwoods ambiance. Most were written by guitarist Robbie Robertson, including his masterpiece “"The Weight,"” which was steeped in biblical imagery. As a songwriter, Robertson drew from influences that were both obvious () and somewhat obscure for a rock and roller (filmmakers John Ford, Luis Bunuel and Kurosawa). Dylan was a distinct presence on the album, collaboration on “Tears of Rage” with Manuel and “This Wheel’s on Fire” with Danko. His hymnlike “I Shall Be Released,” making its recorded debut on Music from Big Pink, closed the album. Though it didn’t chart high or sell in great numbers, Music from the Big Pink was undeniably one of the most influential albums of the Sixties, heralding the arrival of a more roots-oriented movement in rock music.

Music from Big Pink was followed by 1969’s The Band, an even more incisive mix of the history, folklore and myth that defined our collective understanding of America. As played by the Band, rock and roll unmistakably felt like part of a continuum that stretched back to the days of juke joints, fish fries and medicine shows. Widely regarded as their signature work, The Band soared on the strength of Robertson’s songwriting (""Up On Cripple Creek,"” “"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down""), the band members’ empathetic, loose-limbed musicianship, and the conversational blend of voices from Helm, Danko and Manuel. They were at their peak here of creating a kind of North American mythology out of words and music.

More albums followed, all of them solid, if not as groundbreaking as the first two. Stage Fright, which Robertson described as “more of a good-time record,” appeared in 1970 and the somewhat checkered Cahoots (“I just wasn’t as inspired to write,” confessed Robertson) came out a year later. The Band performed at such legendary rock festivals as Woodstock, the Isle of Wight and Watkins Glen, and they maintained a grueling pace as a touring band. On December 31st, 1971, they performed a New Year’s Eve concert that marked their last performance for one and a half years.

In the mid-Seventies, the Band cut an album of oldies (1973’s Moondog Matinee); reunited with Dylan for the Planet Waves album and tour (which resulted in the live album Before the Flood); recorded the best of their later albums (1975’s Northern Lights, Southern Cross); and then took their leave in 1976 with a memorable concert finale, “"The Last Waltz,"” held at a favorite venue, San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom. The musical program, on which such luminaries as , , , , and joined The Band onstage, was recorded and released as a film and triple-album set.

Subsequently, Robertson gravitated toward film work, assembling soundtracks and directing his own project, Carney. He’s also pursued an intermittent solo career that began with 1987’s Robbie Robertson. Levon Helm found acting work (Coal Miner’s Daughter) and has recorded six albums as a solo artist. Rick Danko was the first member of the Band to release a solo record – 1977’s Rick Danko – and he went on to work in a trio format with folksinger Eric Andersen and Norwegian singer/songwriter Jonas Fjeld.

The original band members, minus Robertson, regrouped and began touring in 1983. Three years later, their troubled pianist, Richard Manuel, hanged himself in a Florida motel room after a club performance. The surviving members continued as The Band and released Jericho, their first album of new music in sixteen years, in 1993. Hudson and Danko joined Robertson onstage to perform “The Weight” on the night of the Band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, while Helm - whose acrimonious feelings toward Robertson were revealed in his 1993 autobiography, This Wheel’s On Fire - was conspicuously absent. Danko died of heart failure in December 1999. Helm has survived a bout with throat cancer.

Capitol Records embarked on an ambitious reissue program of The Band’s albums in 2000, bolstered with remastered sound and bonus tracks.

TIMELINE

August 2, 1937: Garth Hudson, keyboardist, horn player and all-around multi-instrumentalist with the Band, is born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

May 26, 1942: Levon Helm, drummer and vocalist with the Band, is born in Marvell, Arkansas.

April 3, 1943: Richard Manuel, keyboardist and vocalist with the Band, is born in Stratford, Ontario, Canada.

December 9, 1943: Rick Danko, bassist and vocalist with the Band, is born in Simcoe, Ontario, Canada.

July 5, 1944: Robbie Robertson, guitarist and main songwriter for the Band, is born in Toronto, Canada.

December 17, 1961: Garth Hudson joins Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel in the Hawks, who serve as Arkansas rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins’ backup band.

April 29, 1966: , backed by the Hawks (better known as The Band), perform in Stockholm, Sweden. Six more weeks of dates follow across Europe in what will come to be regarded as one of rock’s most historic tours.

May 17, 1966: and the Hawks (a.k.a. The Band) perform at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England. Dylan is booed by folk purists who object to his appearing with an electric band. This widely bootlegged concert, often misidentified as having been performed at London’s Royal Albert Hall, is officially released 22 years later as ‘Live 1966.’

January 20, 1968: A tribute concert to folksinger is held at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Featured artists include , The Band, Judy Collins and Richie Havens.

July 10, 1968: ‘Music from Big Pink,’ the Band’s evocative debut album, is released. It charts no higher than #30 but sells steadily and becomes an acknowledged classic.

February 28, 1969: The Band makes its live debut at the Winterland in San Francisco.

August 31, 1969: The Band appear at the British Isle of Wight Festival, performing a set of their own before backing up .

October 18, 1969: The Band’s masterful self-titled second album - which contains such classics as “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and “King Harvest (Has Surely Come)” – enters Billboard’s album chart. It reaches #9 and eventually goes platinum (1 million copies sold).

January 12, 1970: The Band appear on the cover of Time magazine beneath the headline “The New Sound of Country Rock.”

September 5, 1970: The Band’s third album, ‘Stage Fright,’ enters the Billboard album chart. Reaching #5, it is the highest-charting album of their career.

1971: Joan Baez hits #3 with the Band song “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.”

December 31, 1971: The Band perform a New Year’s Eve show at New York’s Academy of Music with a full horn section. The show is released in September 1972 as the live double album ‘Rock of Ages.’

July 28, 1973: The Band, , and the Band perform for a crowd of 600,000 (larger by half than Woodstock!) in upstate New York at the Watkins Glen “Summer Jam.”

January 17, 1974: ’s ‘Planet Waves,’ which reunites him with The Band as his backing group, is released. Dylan and The Band undertake a six-week, 40-date tour together.

June 20, 1974: ‘Before the Flood,’ a live double album by and The Band, is released.

November 25, 1976: The Band bows out with “The Last Waltz,” a grand farewell concert at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. A film documentary, directed by Martin Scorsese, and three-record set of musical highlights follow.

March 26, 1977: ‘Islands,’ the final album by The Band’s original lineup, is released. Having met their contractual obligation to Capitol Records, they are free to disband – which they do.

March 3, 1986: Richard Manuel of The Band hangs himself at a motel room in Winter Park, Florida.

November 20, 1993: Seventeen years after their last live performance, the reunited Band – minus Robbie Robertson and the late Richard Manual – release a new album, ‘Jericho.’

January 19, 1994: The Band is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the ninth annual induction dinner. is their presenter.

January 12, 1998: is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the thirteenth annual induction dinner. Robbie Robertson is his presenter.

September 15, 1998: The Band’s tenth and final studio album, ‘Jubilation,’ is released on the River North label. Original members Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson are joined by such friends as and John Hiatt.

December 10, 1999: Rick Danko of the Band dies of heart failure at his home outside Woodstock, New York.

Essential Songs

The Weight
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
I Shall Be Released
Stage Fright
This Wheel’s on Fire
Life Is a Carnival
The Shape I’m In
Across the Great Divide
Acadian Driftwood

Recommended Reading

“Life Is a Carnival.”
Rob Bowman. Goldmine (July 26, 1991).

“The Band.”
Ralph J. Gleason. Rolling Stone (May 17, 1969), insert pp 1-5.

Across the Great Divide: The Band and America
Barney Hoskyns. New York: Hyperion, 1993.

This Wheel’s on Fire: The Story of the Band
Levon Helm and Stephen Davis. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1993.