The Band Web Site

News and Updates, 2017

Dec.29.2017

Photo © copyright Elliott Landy. All rights reserved.
• 74 years ago, on December 29, 1943, Rick Danko was born. He is deeply missed. The music will live forever.

Dec.10.2017

• On this day, 18 years ago, we lost Rick Danko. Forever young, forever missed.

• Thanks to our friend Craig for compiling this list of interview/media appearances, including links to audio/video, from Robbie Robertson's Testimony book tour, 2016-2017.

• Check out legendary rock photographer Elliott Landy's Holiday Sale -- Fine Art Prints of classic photos of The Band, Dylan, Clapton, Hendrix, Janis, Jimi and many more '60s and '70s music icons.

• From YouTube: Levon Helm & The RCo Allstars: "Slow Down" -- Paul Butterfield. Levon Helm, Dr John and others playing the blues (and how!) at the old Bearsville Studios' rehearsal building outside Woodstock, NY. Includes a rare interview with manager and "King of Bearsville" Albert Grossman. This video is from a 1977 "Bearsville Picnic" special edition of the BBC program The Old Grey Whistle Test.

• Available from NPR Music: "The Band on Mountain Stage", live recording from 1996.

• Added a photo of a young Levon Helm with his little brother Wheeler.

• New article at the Reverb web site: "An Almost Complete Guide to the Gear of The Last Waltz". reverb.com is an online marketplace for musicians to buy, sell and learn about new, used, vintage and handmade music gear.

• From the San Francisco Chronicle: "Long-lost 'Last Waltz' photos from legendary S.F. concert discovered amid dust"

• From YouTube: "The Band, The Last Waltz, Full Concert, 11/25/76" -- the whole thing, 4 hours 19 minutes, so-and-so quality b/w concert video

Nov.22.2017

• "Bob Dylan and Rick Danko's 'This Wheel's on Fire' inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame"

Nov.19.2017

• Added photos of The Band in Ithaca, NY, 1974, shot by photographer Jon Reis. High quality prints are available from jonreisphoto.com

• More photos lifted from Facebook:
  • Garth , 1976
  • Levon with Duck Dunn, 1977

Nov.17.2017

Levon Helm with Jakob Dylan, photo from the mid '90s.

Nov.17.2017

• Levon Helm with Jakob Dylan, photo from the mid '90s.

Nov.11.2017

• "The Band in Woodstock" -- lovely 5-minute documentary from film-maker David McDonald.

• Some photos that popped up on Facebook recently:

  • The Band in Woodstock, December 1969

  • Drawing of Rick Danko

  • Levon and Robbie with friends, 1971

  • Outtakes from a cover photo session for Islands (previously unpublished?)

  • Photos from Islands recording sessions, 1976:

    • Levon Helm
    • Garth Hudson
    • Rick Danko
    • Robbie Robertson

• Great news from our friend David Kraai:

  I have a new album out that I thought might be of interest to you and your readers:

  David Kraai: North Mountain Rambling
  (Fine Country Folk Recordings, 2017)

  This album was recorded in the basement of the legendary Big Pink. 2017 is fifty years since Bob Dylan & The Band recorded The Basement Tapes there and this will be the first album released which was recorded there since those historic sessions. Special guests on the album include Dylan alumni Rob Stoner (Rolling Thunder Revue, Desire, Hard Rain, Live at Budokan) and Eric Weissberg (Blood On The Tracks, "Dueling Banjos"). This is multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Kraai's fourth album of original songs which are a melting pot of country, folk and rock.

  It is available at all of the usual places: iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, etc or from my website: davidkraai.com.

  People can also listen to this YouTube playlist.

  The centerfold of the booklet is an image of the basement from the recording sessions and here is a video for the first single which is made up of footage from the sessions at Big Pink.

Nov.04.2017

• From YouTube: "The Band & Eric Clapton: R&R Hall of Fame rehearsals 1994"

Oct.18.2017

• Check out John Scheele's photography on Facebook, with loads of photos of The Band, several of them previously unpublised.

Sep.24.2017

• "Ronnie Hawkins' Last Hoorah!"

Sep.20.2017

• New article from the Brantford Expositor: "Robbie Robertson to receive Six Nations honour".

• Al Edge: "Music From Big Pink: Another View - The Band's Best"

Sep.17.2017

• New article from CBC: "That time Eric Clapton auditioned for -- and was rejected by -- the Band "

Sep.02.2017

• Levon & the Hawks, 1964 promo photo

Aug.13.2017

• New interview: Robbie Robertson on The Last Waltz, gear secrets and that bronze Fender Strat

Aug.02.2017

• 
  It's Garth Hudson's 80th birthday today! We send our best wishes to Garth and Sister Maud Hudson.

Aug.01.2017

• Oral Histories: Garth Hudson -- new video interview/performance from July 2017.

• "Unpacking the Absurd Logic of Cultural Appropriation -- and What It Will Cost Us" -- nice article with "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" as "exhibit A".

• Click here to contribute to the Levon Helm Memorial Project in Arkansas!

Jul.27.2017

• Video from the University of Arkansas historical archives: The Band with the Cate Brothers, performing the song "A Story Everybody Knows" at The Rink in Fayetteville, AR, 1984.

Jul.26.2017

• "What about young Anna Lee? She's backing Levon Helm memorial" -- new article from the Washington Post.

Jul.06.2017

• And a belated but very Happy Birthday to our main man Peter Viney, who celebrated his 70th birthday this weekend. We lost count of his many contributions to this site years ago -- articles, album and gig reviews, discography details, cover art, photos... all top quality material. The Band web site has Peter Viney written all over it, and would never have achieved it's "mother of all fan sites"-status without him. Long may you run, Peter.

Jul.05.2017

• Happy 74th, Robbie Robertson!

• Here are two lovely photos of Garth and Maud Hudson from nearly 40 years ago.

• Added a photo of Garth Hudson with singer Larry Groce and producer Randy Nauert, from the sessions for Groce's 1983 album Medicine Man.

Jun.10.2017

• Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World is an upcoming feature documentary about the role of Native Americans in popular music history. Check out the new movie trailer featuring Robbie Robertson.

Jun.07.2017

• New photos found on Facebook recently:

  • Soundcheck, 1969
  • Levon with Ron Wood, 1976
  • Rick and Ronnie Lane, 1989

• From Rolling Stone: "Hear Robbie Robertson, Chris Shiflett Talk Bob Dylan, Americana -- guitarist and famed member of the Band visits 'Walking the Floor' podcast to discuss his remarkable career".

• Robbie Robertson posted the following on Facebook, 05.23.2017:

  Muddy Waters at The Last Waltz

  There's been a misconception over the years that I should clearly straighten out.

  While we were inviting musical guests to join us for the Band's Last Waltz concert, Levon suggested Muddy Waters. We had always been big admirers of his music, and were unquestionably influenced by him. There was a period in the early 60's when Muddy's records rarely left the turntable. The only concern amongst the members of the Band was -- could we do justice and play his songs as well as we knew them from those amazing Chess recordings?

  Muddy originally came from the Mississippi Delta in an area just across the river from where Levon grew up. Levon's ties to the blues of his homeland were a strong bond and I completely understood his desire to have Muddy join us. Levon was totally confident in our ability to play with Muddy, so we completely embraced the idea.

  At our rehearsal before the concert, Muddy brought along his piano man Pinetop Perkins and guitarist Bob Margolin. We also invited Paul Butterfield, the master blues harp player, to join us.

  Muddy had been up to Levon's barn in Woodstock NY and recorded the old classic song, "Caledonia", so he suggested we do that one. I asked about Muddy's amazing "Mannish Boy" track, and Bob Margolin thought was a great choice, and gave us the lowdown on the arrangement.

  Playing with Muddy and these guys at the concert was definitely one of the highlights of the night for us.

  Someone claimed years later that there had been a dispute over whether Muddy's performance would be included in the Last Waltz movie. This is absolutely untrue. Then, to top it off, I heard that we'd contemplated replacing Muddy's performance in the film with Neil Diamond's. Ridiculously false. No one involved, not Marty, nor any of us, ever considered not including Muddy in the film. His performance in The Last Waltz is phenomenal and speaks for itself.

  I seriously needed to dispel these absurd claims.

May.31.2017

• Added a photo of Garth Hudson with John Simon, November 2016.

• Robbie Robertson has announced on his Facebook page that he is working on both a new album and a Volume 2 of his 2016 autobiography.

May.12.2017

• Interesting and previously unpublished(?) photo:

  • Rick Danko and Robbie Robertson perform with Levon and the Hawks at Tony Mart's in Somers Point, New Jersey in 1965

  This photo is from the very same days when, for the first time, Bob Dylan called Levon Helm at Somers Point and asked them to become his backing band.

Apr.19.2017

Levon Helm, May 26, 1940 -- Apr 19, 2012 Five years gone The music will live forever

Apr.02.2017

• Happy 70th, Emmylou Harris!

Mar.29.2017

• From Rolling Stone: "Watch Mavis Staples, Arcade Fire, More Unleash Powerful 'The Weight' -- Jeff Tweedy, Gregg Allman, Bonnie Raitt join all-star performance from upcoming concert special".

Mar.25.2017

• Lovely photo by John Scheele, of Garth Hudson during rehearsals this week.

• From Rolling Stone: "Robbie Robertson Remembers 'Original Guitar God' Chuck Berry"

Mar.18.2017

• "Garth Hudson Added To 7 Upcoming The Last Waltz 40 Tour Stops"

Mar.10.2017

• Rick, Levon, and Robbie at the Isle of Wight, 1969

Mar.09.2017

• More information about the upcoming all-star benefit concert for the Autism Think Tank in Glendale, CA, headlined by Garth and Sister Maud Hudson, where The Band's first two albums will be played in their entirety:

  "Wild Honey Foundation to salute The Band on March 25"

  Tickets start at $25 and are available here.

• And here is the poster for the March 25 The Band tribute/benefit gig with Garth and Maud (click to enlarge);

  

Mar.06.2017

• Levon and Rick with Wavy Gravy

Mar.05.2017

• 1992 TV beer commercial, with the legendary Levon Helm singing the praise of Bud Light :-)

Mar.04.2017

• On March 25, Garth Hudson will join Jackson Browne, Peter Case, Don Was, Steve Wynn, Victoria Williams, Syd Straw, Vicki Peterson and two dozen other mostly L.A.-based musicians in performing the first two critically acclaimed albums from The Band, Music From Big Pink and The Band in their entirety, at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, CA. Check out this article from the Los Angeles Times for more information.

• 31 years ago today, we lost the great Richard Manuel :-(

  

• More photos found on Facebook added to the archives:

  • From Robbie's wedding, 1969
    
  • Color photo of Ronnie Hawkins and Levon Helm, 1959
    
  • Levon Helm with Bobby Charles, Duck Dunn and the RCO All-Stars
    
  • Richard, 1969

Feb.20.2017

• We will of course contribute to the fundraiser for a Levon Helm memorial on his home turf in Arkansas. Check out this promo video (featuring Amy Helm, C.W. Gatlin and Anna Lee) to see why and how you can participate too.

Feb.09.2017

• Here's a Canadian radio interview with Garth and Maud Hudson, from December 2016.

Feb.08.2017

• Added a "new" photo of Levon and Robbie after The Hollywood Bowl concert debut with Bob Dylan, 1965. Thanks to Terry Danko for sharing this on Facebook.

Feb.02.2017

Garth Hudson, one of two remaining original members of The Band, will be joining the 2017 Last Waltz 40 Tour for two special shows at The Palace Theatre in Albany, NY and MGM National Harbor in Washington, DC to celebrate the Band's 40th Anniversary of their historical farewell concert. Hudson, the iconic multi-instrumentalist has been credited by his band members and brothers Robbie, Levon, Rick, and Richard for being the resident musical genius of The Band and helped create their unmistakable sound. Details for the two engagements are below: Thursday, February 2 in Albany, New York at The Palace Theatre Saturday, February 4 in Oxon Hill (Washington, DC), Maryland at MGM National Harbor Tickets can be purchased at: lastwaltz40tour.com.