The Band Web Site
News and Updates, 2019
- New review from the All About Jazz web site, by Doug Collette: "The Band: 50th Anniversary Edition (2CD)".
- Our long-time Irish friend, singer/songwriter (and Band fan extraordinaire) Hank Wedel, has just released the EP Charlies (On a Cold Cork Christmas Eve) together with mandolin player Ray Barron. The EP, that is available both on YouTube and Spotify, includes a lovely cover of The Band's "Christmas Must be Tonight".
- New entry for 1983-86 added to the phenomenal Dag B. collection.
- Twenty years ago today, on December 10, 1999, one of the sweetest souls of rock'n'roll left us. Read Carol Caffin's tribute "The Flame Still Burns: A Dedication to Rick".
- "Steve Gorman of the Black Crowes Remembers Levon Helm"
- From udiscovermusic.com: "Up On Cripple Creek: The Story Behind The Band's Song" -- "I wanted to write something that was stirring inside of me, says The Band's Robbie Robertson of his song 'Up On Cripple Creek'"
- "Still Waltzing: Robbie Robertson on Martin Scorsese, the Band, and 60 Years in Music" -- new interviw from The Ringer
![[poster]](band_pictures/IMG_1656.JPG) |
- You Don't Want To Miss This One! The Weight Band presents The Band's historic 1971 concert Rock of Ages, on December 20, at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. Tickets and more info. available from Ticketmaster
- "The Band's Robbie Robertson Performs At The Last Waltz Nashville" -- from Jambase, with several videos from the all-star celebration of The Band's historic farewell concert on Saturday Nov 23.
- "Twilight" -- lovely early '70s demo version with Robbie singing.
- "We love Christmas and the Holidays, it brings good cheer, and also stress and depression, so I wanted to do a song that celebrates both sides and have a little fun." -- Robbie Robertson's new Christmas track "Happy Holidays" is now available.
- "Robbie Robertson's prolific 'Sinematic' creativity" -- Goldmine magazine
- "Helpless" - live version by our long-time friend and contributor Pat Brennan's Dylan cover band The Zimmermen with guest vocalist Cathy Richardson, recorded during their Last Waltz concert at Fitzgerald's night club in Chicago, 11.16.2019.
- Added 181 photos downloaded from social media this fall.
- Simon Harper/Clash magazine's long and wonderful The Band feature is finally here! You want to read this:
"A Rebel Stand: The Band's Self-Titled Masterpiece at 50"
With contributions from Robbie, Garth, John Simon, Jon Taplin, Elliott Landy, Roger Daltrey, Ringo Starr, Pete Townshend and Bernie Taupin! - "One Too Many Mornings" (The Basement Tapes Complete) (Vimeo video)
- A new Levon Helm biography will be published next year. Available for pre-order from Amazon.
- Check out the latest episode of Vish Khanna's Kreative Kontrol podcast:
"Robbie Robertson on the Band, Martin Scorsese, Woodstock, 'Sinematic,' more!"
- New theme song from the Robbie Robertson-produced soundtrack to
Martin Scorsese's The Irishman:
![[poster]](band_pictures/nashville_tlw_2019.jpg)
-
The Last Waltz Nashville: An All-Star Celebration of the Band's Historic Farewell Concert will be held on Saturday, November 23 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN:
This inaugural holiday event captures the excitement of The Band's historic 1976 Thanksgiving concert with some of music's biggest stars including Darius Rucker, Michael McDonald, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, Nathaniel Rateliff, Warren Haynes, Jamey Johnson, Lukas Nelson, Margo Price, Don Was, John Medeski, Cyril Neville, Dave Malone, Bob Margolin, Terence Higgins and Mark Mullins & The Levee Horns. This once in a lifetime concert event includes a rare, very special appearance by music icon Robbie Robertson of The Band. For tickets and more info., see The Last Waltz Nashville web site.
- "Rick Danko And Garth Hudson On Mountain Stage" -- 15-minute National Public Radio (NPR) program from 1989, with Rick and Garth performing "Twilight", "It Makes No Difference" and "The Shape I'm In".
- New entry for 1979-82 added to the phenomenal Dag B. collection.
- "The Band Shares 'Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever' From Long-Shelved Woodstock Performance" (billboard.com)
- "The Band's Robbie Robertson: My life in 12 songs" (Los Angeles Times)
- "The Irishman: Soundtrack released for new Martin Scorsese film" (The Independent, UK)
- "How Martin Scorsese and Robbie Robertson Decide on the Perfect Needle Drop" (Vulture magazine)
- You want to read this!:
"Ruthless Escapades: Robbie Robertson In Conversation"
This is a new interview with Robbie by the brilliant Clash Magazine's UK Editor-In-Chief Simon Harper! And Simon Says:"My interview with Robbie was twofold - the last 10 minutes we're talking about the (new Sinematic) abum, but the preceding 40 minutes was talking about The Band for a huge 50th anniversary piece I've been working on all summer, that will be going live next Friday. For this feature I spoke with Robbie, Garth, John Simon, Jon Taplin and Elliott Landy, as well as celebrity fans Roger Daltrey and Ringo Starr. I am thrilled to say that it also features exclusive contributions from Pete Townshend and Bernie Taupin, too!"
- The Band: Live at the New Orleans Jazz Fest, 1994 -- good quality, full-length YouTube concert video with interviews.
- From Rolling Stone magazine: "Robbie Robertson Details Soundtrack for Martin Scorsese's 'The Irishman'"
- Levon Helm's boyhood home has been moved from Turkey Scratch, AR, to neighbouring town Marvell, where it has been restored to it's near original state. The house was officially opened this weekend, and is now available for visitors to take a tour. Levon's daughter Amy was present at the opening, where she also performed with old friend and The Band collaborator C.W. Gatlin and others. Here are some photos from the event.
- "Robbie Robertson Reflects on His Legendary Rock Career" -- video interview from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
- Another track from the upcoming
50th Anniversary Editions of the The Band, a remixed version of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", is now available on Spotify, YouTube and elsewhere:
- In November 2019, Capitol/Universal will be releasing
50th Anniversary Editions of the The Band, with loads of goodies, outtakes and previously unreleased material. An alternate version of "Rag Mama Rag" from the box is
already available on YouTube:
- Robbie Robertson performed on Jimmy Fallon's The Tonight Show last week! Here's a video
of Robbie and a superb band doing a song from his new Sinematic album:
- Selected reviews of Robbie Robertson's Sinematic:
- Some recent articles/interviews:
- "Robbie Robertson: 'I didn't know anybody who didn't do drugs'" (The Guardian)
- "Q&A: Robbie Robertson On Bob Dylan, Martin Scorsese And Being Part Of A Musical Revolution" (Forbes)
- "Robbie Robertson on His New Album 'Sinematic'" (NYPR)
- "Robbie Robertson talks new documentary 'Once We Were Brothers' and what it was like touring with Bob Dylan" (Yahoo)
- "The Band's 2nd Album: A Rustic Masterpiece" (Best Classic Bands)
- Farewell Peter Stone Brown: Our long-time friend and contributor to The Band web site, musician, writer, radio host, Dylanologist and The Band expert, Peter Stone Brown, passed away this weekend. Here are some
of the articles he sent us over the years:
- "Revisiting The Band"
- "Garth Hudson Bio"
- "Rick Danko"
- "The Other Side: Richard Manuel"
- "The Last Waltz Revisited"
- "Levon in Philly"
- "Interview: Rick Danko, December 21, 1977"
- "Dylan Still Down in the Basement, But Finally Out of the Vault"
You may also want to visit the Peter Stone Brown discussion thread at the Bob Dylan site Expecting Rain.
|
- 50 years ago today, The Band (aka. "The Brown Album") was released.
- "Fifty Years of 'The Band,' an Album that Didn't Fit the Mold Then or Now" (Billboard Magazine)
- New article from The Wall Street Journal: "Robbie Robertson Misses His Brothers in The Band".
- From Rolling Stone: "Watch Robbie Robertson Play 'The Weight' With Ringo Starr and Musicians Across Five Continents" -- fantastic video production with world musicians.
- New track from Robbie Robertson's upcoming album
Sinematic now available on YouTube:
- From Pantheon Podcasts ("an independent network of podcasts digging into music, culture & technology"):
"The Band: A History - Review of Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band"
- Our friend and legendary rock photographer Elliott Landy has commented on his role in Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band on his Facebook page.
- The reviews of Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band are starting to show up:
- "Robbie Robertson Documentary Finds the Sadness in Rock'n'Roll" (The Wrap)
- "Sour Notes and Reckless Self-Mythologizing" (IndieWire)
- "Toronto 2019: Once Were Brothers opens film festival" (BBC News)
- 'Once Were Brothers' Disappoints As The Opener Of The Toronto Film Festival" (Uproxx)
- "'Once Were Brothers': Toronto Review" (ScreenDaily)
- "Toronto Film Review: 'Once Were Brothers'" (Variety)
- "'Once Were Brothers': Film Review, TIFF 2019" (The Hollywood Reporter)
- The new documentary Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) yesterday. Here are some Canadian media articles about the film and photos from the event:
- Robbie and Martin Scorsese on the red carpet (Robbie's Instagram)
- "Musician Robbie Robertson awarded key to the city by Toronto Mayor John Tory" (CBC)
- "TIFF opens with Robbie Robertson documentary in a 'golden age' for rock docs" (CBC)
- "Rock legend Robbie Robertson says return to Toronto for TIFF documentary is 'beautiful ... It's my 'hood. Always" (The Toronto Star)
- "'Five fragile young men': How Daniel Roher went from young fan of the Band to putting their story on film" (The Toronto Star)
- "TIFF 2019: 'Once Were Brothers' opens film festival" (The Toronto Sun)
- "TIFF 2019: Red carpet photos" (The Globe and Mail)
- "TIFF 2019: Robbie Robertson at 76: The confessions of a cinematic man" (The Globe and Mail)
- " Toronto Mayor John Tory hands key to the city to musician Robbie Robertson" (The Globe and Mail)
- Three of the 13 tracks from Robbie Robertson's upcoming album
Sinematic are now available on YouTube:
- "Robbie Robertson Chronicles the End of the Band in Bittersweet New Song 'Once Were Brothers'" (People magazine)
- "Robbie Robertson on his new documentary Once Were Brothers" (CBC Radio)
- "Robbie Robertson Explains How The Band Doc 'Once Were Brothers' Came Together" (Billboard)
- News from Rolling Stone magazine today:
"Warren Haynes, Lukas Nelson, Jamey Johnson Lead Last Waltz Tour: Robbie Robertson and Blackbird Presents partner on 12-date trek celebrating the Band's 1976 farewell concert"
|
- "Doc of Ages" -- long and pretty good article in the new issue of Point of View Magazine ("Canada's premiere magazine about documentary culture") about the new film Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band, with comments from Robbie and the very young director Daniel Roher.
- From Exclaim! magazine: "The Unauthorized Story of the Making of Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band"
- Garth Hudson with the Everly Brothers 60 years ago!
- "Rick Danko Sang 'I Shall Be Released' At Richard Manuel's Funeral -- Everyone Joined", with audience recording first published on SoundCloud :'-(
- More photos downloaded from social media this summer.
- "D.A. Pennebaker, Master of Cinema Verite, Dies at 94" -- Pennebaker was the photographer on the film Eat the Document from the 1966 Dylan and the Hawks/Band tour of Europe.
![[photo]](band_pictures/garth_hudson_at_piano_2001_do_small_tag.jpg)
It's Garth Hudson's 82nd birthday today! We send our best wishes to Garth and Sister Maud Hudson.
- Recent Canadian TV interview about the new The Band film, the solo album and the 50th anniversary edition of The Brown Album: "New doc about Robbie Robertson and The Band"
 Sinematic press photo |
- Robbie Robertson's new solo album
Sinematic will be released in September!
Here are some links to recent articles/interviews etc. about Sinematic:
- United Music Canada press release
- "'It Feels Good to Shed That Skin': Robbie Robertson Gets Personal on New Album" (Rolling Stone magazine)
- "Robbie Robertson Announces New Album 'Sinematic' & Shares Single Featuring Van Morrison" (JamBase)
- "Robbie Robertson to Return With Partially 'Irishman'-Inspired 'Sinematic' Album" (Variety magazine)
- "I Hear You Paint Houses" (featuring Van Morrison) -- single from Sinematic available on YouTube
- Levon Helm in full flight, 30 years ago: King Biscuit Blues Fest, Helena, AR, 1989
- Levon Helm and Garh Hudson both contribute to J.C. Hopkins' album It's a Sad and Beautiful World, recorded in 2004 and released in 2018. Garth also appears in the video for the album's final track "Walking Cane".
- Robbie Robertson appears on the (relatively) new Bob Dylan 14-CD box set The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings.
- Thanks to Joshua Butts for informing us about this one:
Showtime is currently doing a four-part docu-series called Shangri-La, focusing on "creative conversation and the emotional side of music-making", using legendary music producer and Def Jam Records co-founder Rick Rubin's iconic Malibu, CA studio "Shangri-La" as the backdrop.
Of course the studio and The Band get heavy and early mention. Robbie Robertson shows up in the first episode and hangs with Rubin in the control room. The pool table is still there, but everything is painted white. They show the Rick Danko and Martin Scorses clip from The Last Waltz early on.
You can watch the episodes and a trailer for the series at the Showtime web site.
- "A conversation with Barney Hoskyns, author of Across The Great Divide: The Band and America" - podcast with Matt Lodato interviewing author/music journalist and life-long The Band fan Hoskyns.
- "I Shall Be Released" - live version by our long-time friend and contributor Pat Brennan's Dylan cover band The Zimmermen, with guest vocalist Terrance Simien, plus Alejandro Escovedo and Jon Langford sitting in. Recorded at Fitzgerald's night club in Chicago, 07.06.2019.
- Links from our friend Peter Stekel:
- Happy (belated) birthday to Robbie Robertson!
Here an article with a short video interview and an update on his recent projects:
"Robbie Robertson turns 76 and shows no signs of slowing down" (Toronto CityNews)
- Loads of additions and updates to the list
of albums with cover
versions of songs by The Band:
- Ivory (Ivory, 1973)
- Drum Method (Takeshi Inomata & Sound Limited, 1972)
- Dr. Music (Dr. Music, 1973)
- Shangrilas '65 (The Shangri-Las, 1965)
- Tasteful (Quincy Conserve, 1973)
- Follow the Sun (Various Artists, 2017)
- A 65-Piece Rock Workshop (Bobby Shad & The Bad Men, 1973)
- La Vie Commence a 60 Ans (Tino Rossi, 1979)
- Happen Out! (Headband, 1971)
- Live, Wild, Red Hot 'N' Rockin (The Wild Angels, 2002)
- Mark II (Mark Murphy, 1974)
- Under the Direction of Leon McAuliffe (The Original Texas Playboys, 1979)
- Currency (Plastic Penny, 1969)
- Psychedelic States (The Romans, 1965)
- Taikaa - Kaikki Parhaat (Danny & the Islanders, 1964, )
- This Too Shall Light (Amy Helm, 2018)
- Cracks In The Illusion Of Life (Writing On The Wall, 1968)
- Václav Týfa (Václav Týfa & Konstelace Josefa Vobruby, 1975)
- Soul Symphony (Odell Brown & The Organ-izers, 1970)
- Free Delivery (Odell Brown, 1970)
- Johnny (John Farnham, 1971)
- Food of Love (Yvonne Elliman, 1973)
- Mammy Blue (Hugo Montenegro, 1971)
- Another Dimension (Bo Diddley, 1971)
- Takeaway (Meal Ticket, 1978)
- Priority (The Pointer Sisters, 1979)
- "Sip the Wine" (single) (Lola Kirke, 2019)
Thanks for the extra work, Dag B.
-
Today the Governor General announced
new appointments to The Order Of Canada:
Eric Garth Hudson, C.M.
Toronto, Ontario
For his unique musical contributions and for his mentorship of many emerging artists over the past 60 years
2019 Order of Canada appointees have made their mark on all aspects of Canadian society.
- A close friend of this site has cooked up some software that'll do a (pretty good) separation of the different tracks (bass, vocal, keyboards etc.) that are mixed together on records. Here's an example, revealing the vocal magic that a 28 year old Levon Helm created in the late '60s with a little help from Richard and Rick:
"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" vocal separation
- Dag B. has done it again:
58(!) covers of The Band songs that you probably have never heard before, for you to enjoy, stream or download in splendid MPEG-3.
- New entry for 1977-78 added to the phenomenal Dag B. collection.
- A new The Band documentary, based on Robbie Robertson's 2017 autobiography, is due for release this fall:
- "Robbie Robertson Explains Why New The Band Documentary Won't Be a Puff Piece"
- "Putting The Band Back Together: Docu 'Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson And The Band' Coming With Martin Scorsese, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard"
- "The Band Documentary Coming From Martin Scorsese"
- "Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band"
- Robbie Robertson in a recent interview with CBC:
"I have just finished a new album and it's coming out in September... This album, it's one of the most special things I've ever done."
- The Band's set at the original Woodstock Festival will be released as part of a massive 38 disc set due in August:
The box set, titled Woodstock - Back to the Garden: The Definitive 50th Anniversary Archive will be released by Rhino Records. See the for Rhino web site full track lists and more info.
- Published by Billboard Magazine yesterday: "Lifetime Award Honoree Robbie Robertson On His Career-Long Quest To 'Do Something Magical'"
|
|
- "50 years later: Seattle photographer releases never-before-seen photos of The Band's first show". Thanks to Dag B. for posting the link in a Robbie fan group on Facebook.
- 76 years ago, on April 3rd 1943, the great Richard Manuel was born. Too soon gone.
- Wow. 8mm audience footage from The Last Waltz, courtesy of Dag B.
- This one passed under our radar when it came out last fall: Truth, Lies & Hearsay: A Memoir of a Musical Life in and out of Rock and Roll, written by The Band's producer John Simon! The book is available from Amazon.
- More photos downloaded from social media the last month.
- Looks like Robbie Robertson's new album is in the mixing process, according to this recent posting on Robbie's Instagram account
- Would you like to see a relatively good quality video of The Band's 1974 concert at Wembley Stadium in London, UK? The whole thing, from start to finish? We thought so... and, thanks to the man Dag B., now you can!
- This live footage was new to us: The Band doing "Smoke Signal", Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 09.14.1974.
- New entry for 1975 added to the phenomenal Dag B. collection.
- 33 years ago today, we lost the great Richard Manuel :-(
- New entry for 1972-73 added to the phenomenal Dag B. collection.
- More photos downloaded from social media the last couple of months.
- Robbie Robertson is currently "mixing the new album, editing the new book", according to his Twitter-account yesterday.
- "RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked The World" -- RUMBLE is the electric story of how Native American influence shaped rock and roll, a missing chapter in music history, featuring Robbie Robertson. Thanks to Jonathan Katz for the link.
- New entry for 1974 added to the phenomenal Dag B. collection.
- From Billboard magazine: "Robbie Robertson to Receive Lifetime Achievement Honor at 2019 Canadian Music & Broadcast Industry Awards"
- New entry for 1971 added to the phenomenal Dag B. collection.
- The Band in 1968 -- a mishmash of stuff relating to the boys in 1968, compiled by Dag B.