R.I.P.: Robbie Robertson, Influential Leader of The Band

Robbie Robertson (1943-2023)

 
Robbie Robertson, the driving force behind the pioneering rock ’n’ roll group the Band, died on Wednesday.   He was 80, reports The L-A Times.

Robertson died in Los Angeles after a long illness. “Robbie was surrounded by his family at the time of his death.

As the Band’s chief songwriter and grand conceptualist, Robertson turned old American folklore into modern myths, a knack that gave a timeless quality to such songs as “The Weight” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”; it was as if he had unearthed the songs, not written them. Robertson specialized in portraits of bygone figures and institutions, writing odes to Confederate soldiers, blacksmiths, medicine shows and whistle stops, his tall tales given weight and energy by the heft of the Band.

Robertson rarely sang in the Band but he was unquestionably its leader, assuming control of the initially egalitarian outfit when his bandmates demonstrated they had no desire to take that position. He played that role with charismatic ease, a quality showcased in “The Last Waltz,” Martin Scorsese’s documentary about the Band’s 1976 farewell.

Robertson’s impact upon rock ’n’ roll was immense and immediate. George Harrison’s latter-day work with the Beatles bore signs of the Band’s influence and Eric Clapton wrote in his 2007 memoir, “It stopped me in my tracks. … Here was a band that was really doing it right, incorporating influences from country music, blues, jazz and rock, and writing great songs.” Decades later, the depth of the Band’s reach became clear, as the alt-country of the 1990s and the Americana of the 21st century all used its music as a blueprint.

Born Jaime Royal Robertson on the Six Nations Reserve outside of Toronto, Ontario, on July 5, 1943, the future musician was the son of Rosemarie Dolly Chrysler, who claimed Mohawk and Cayuga as her heritage.

In his teens, Robertson started gigging with local bands, then formed his own group, first called Thumper and the Trambones, then Robbie and the Robots as a salute to a central character in the classic 1956 sci-fi film “Forbidden Planet.” Robertson’s next outfit, the Suedes, shared a bill with Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, and the Arkansan rockabilly singer took a shine to Robertson, while the fledgling guitarist was infatuated with Levon Helm, the drummer of the Hawks.

Late in the summer of 1965, Albert Grossman contacted Robertson with the intention of setting up a meeting between his client Bob Dylan and the Hawks. Originally, Dylan planned to hire Robertson as a guitarist, an offer Robertson rejected, but he did sit in on two Dylan concerts, bringing Helm along as the drummer. Encouraged by the shows, Dylan rehearsed with the band as they closed out a Toronto residency, then hired the band for his fall tour of 1965.