THE BAND - RAG MAMA RAG!All Star Folk Jam Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey, June 1984

 THE BAND - RAG MAMA RAG!

Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Richie Havens, John Sebastian, and Jesse Colin Young performing "Rag Mam Rag" at the All-Star Folk Jam at the Capitol Theater, Passaic, New Jersey, June 1984

The Band: A History

COLD here!

 and hey let’s be real CAREFUL OUT THERE . . . . minus figures and falling Mr Jack Frost on the ground . . . . 

The Band on the Bearsville Studio grounds in the winter snow NY 1971

RICK DANKO - - Christmas Must Be Tonight (Live) ‘77

 RICK DANKO - - Christmas Must Be Tonight - 12/17/1977 - Capitol Theatre Passaic, NJ

Rick Danko - Christmas Must Be Tonight

Recorded Live: 12/17/1977 - Capitol Theatre - Passaic, NJ

More Rick Danko at Music Vault: http://www.musicvault.com

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Personnel: 

Rick Danko - vocals, bass

Terry Danko - guitar, vocals

Michael DeTemple - guitar

Walt Richmond - keyboards

Marty Greb - Clavinet organ

Jerry Peterson - Twin saxophones

Danny Seiwell - drums

THE BAND - CHRISTMAS MUST BE TONIGHT!

 THE BAND - CHRISTMAS MUST BE TONIGHT!

The Band - C.C. Rider [Shibuya Public Hall, Tokyo, Japan February, 25, 1987.] | The Band: A History [Facebook page]

 THE BAND - C.C.Rider

The Band performing a rendition of "CC Rider" at Shibuya Public Hall, Tokyo, Japan February, 25, 1987.

Note the line up . . . . 

Always a favourite blues number and one of the first songs I learned by heart . . . . great sound quality here

The Band: A History

The Band - Chestnut Hill Road, Woodstock NY : THE BIG PINK

 

The Band, outside of Rick Danko’s 1949 Hudson Super Six in the yard of his Chestnut Hill Road home, Woodstock, NY, 1969.

In 1965-66, the group got to work backing Bob Dylan on his world tour; afterwards, they (and Dylan) found refuge in the basement of a home in West Saugerties, New York. The house, with its salmon-pink siding, became known as "Big Pink."

When Bob Dylan wasn't around Big Pink, The Band began to flesh out its own sound and, in 1968, went to a studio in New York City — and later, studios around Los Angeles — to record their first album, Music from Big Pink.

Robbie Robertson: It was very unimpressive visually. It was like a cellar — any cellar was a big dream of mine, to have a place like this; to have a workshop, a clubhouse, a creative space. We got this basement and we set up the equipment — and I thought: "Wow, my dream has come true."

“Everybody was in this circle of creativity and experimenting was going on,” says Robertson. “Garth Hudson, our amazing keyboard player, was building musical instruments and Richard Manuel was writing ideas, and he wrote ‘Tears Of Rage’ with Bob.”

Meanwhile, Robertson was polishing his own songwriting abilities, penning future classics like ‘Chest Fever’ and the band’s career-defining single, ‘The Weight’.

“I wanted to be a storyteller”, explains Robertson. “I didn’t want to be a writer that says, ‘I got up this morning and I had a cup of coffee and then I went outside.’ Some people could do that quite well. It felt like if I could write fiction that you couldn’t tell if that wasn’t real, that would be interesting to me.”

"We took a left turn away from the psychedelia movement," Levon Helm said, explaining the Band's unique sound. "Those long jams — we didn't really like that. We liked short, kind of precise songs with a little bit of story to it. And we always tried to put a good chorus in that could be sung along with."

In 1970, the Band appeared on the cover of Time magazine.The accompanying piece hailed them as "the one group whose sheer fascination and musical skill may match the excellence of the Beatles." But various members of the group began to succumb to drug and alcohol abuse. As Rick Danko would later recall, "Suddenly we had all the money we needed and people were falling over themselves to make us happy. Which meant giving us all the dope we could stand."

The feeling of brotherly love was further dissipated by Helm's growing belief that Robertson was claiming more songwriting credits than were rightfully his. "The Band was doomed from the start," he told me. "We actually taught ourselves how to grab songs out of the air and get them recorded and figure out how to sing them and play them. And by the time we learned how to do that, it was over. By the time we'd done that and learned how, then we found out the songs didn't belong to us anyway." 

Photo: the legendary Elliott Landy

Don's Tunes

Filmed in 1970 at Robbie Robertsons studio in Woodstock, 

King Harvest is a song written by Robbie Robertson and is from the album "The Band"

WHO DO YOU LOVE? . . . . . . history

 THE PREACHERS - WHO DO YOU LOVE

The Preachers - Who Do You Love - White Vinyl LP or CD

TWILIGHTZONE

Now we have posted this favourite before and whilst I first heard it by Jimbo and The Doors it has a great history involving Ronnie Hawkins The Band’s Last Waltz and here The Preachers

WHO DO YOU LOVE Explored Before! here. . . .

The Band track of the Day : “The Shape I’m In” All-Star Folk Jam, Capitol Theatre, 1984

 I prefer The Band WITH Robbie but this is excellent . . . . . . 

A fantastic restoration of Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Levon Helm perform “The Shape I’m In” at the All-Star Folk Jam, Capitol Theatre, 1984. Guests also included Roger McGuinn, Jesse Colin Young, John Sebastian and Richie Havens

The Band: A History Facebook page

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - 1974-09-14 - London, UK | so many roads

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - 1974-09-14 - London, UK (SBD)

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

1974-09-14

Wembley Stadium

London, England

Soundboard Recording

up early for rehearsals?

CD 1

01. Love The One You're With

02. Wooden Ships

03. Immigration Man

04. Helpless

05. Military Madness

06. Johnny's Garden

07. Traces

08. Almost Cut My Hair

09. Teach Your Children

10. Only Love Can Break Your Heart

11. The Lee Shore

12. Time After Time

13. It's All Right

14. Another Sleep Song

15. Our House

16. Hawaiian Sunrise

17. Star Of Bethlehem

18. Love Art Blues

19. Old Man

CD 2

01. Change Partners

02. Blackbird

03.. Myth Of Sisyphus

04. You Can't Catch Me > Word Games

05. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes

06. Déjà Vu

07. First Things First

08. Don't Be Denied

09. Black Queen

10. Pushed It Over The End

11. Pre-Road Downs

12. Carry On 

13. Ohio

Speedy says: Believe it or not, CSNY has made only 2 appearances at Farm Aid, in 1990 and then again at the 15th anniversary show in 2000. We'll have that second performance for you later this month. 

This soundboard recording goes back 9 years prior to the first Farm Aid, capyturing the last night of  CSNY’s tumultuous 1974 tour at Wembley Stadium in London on September 14, 1974, 51 years ago today. The band, which has been driven apart in 1970 by tensions between the the four members, reformed in early 1974 to launch a nationwide tour. On opening night in Seattle, the band showed their total lack of planning, mapping out a 44 (yes – 44!) song set that they thought would last just a bit more than 3 hours. Well, at 12:35 am, 3 ½ hours into the show, they still had 9 songs to play. They plunged ahead, finishing the show, but that decision had enormous consequences. For future shows, some songs were trimmed off the set list, while others were reshuffled in the line up, pleasing none of the 4 band members. Tensions would continue to mount throughout the tour, and when it finally ended, so did CSNY for over a ¼ century. While there would be few special appearances, such as Live Aid in 1985, CSNY would not tour again until 2000! 

and as I have said before  rare that I get to thank folks for a gig I was at but this is an exception and Speedy excels here and whilst the CSNY boys and Joni were really very good, The Band blew everyone else away! But always nice to get a soundboard quality set so have at it . . .check my comments elsewhere and mostly on the Band’s set but that was a DAY of it fer sure! Know visitor Dell and others were there too

Can y a diggit? I think you can!

This is great quality (for the time) well it sure as eggs is eggs ain’t no soundboard mind and as visitors BC and Joan have pointed out it isn’t the quality they expected from a soundboard and I get ya on that but parts are really very listenable so give it a whirl and see what you think . . . . . Almost Cut My Hair is really very good! . . . . . it is mixed however so . . . . . .you pays yer money and ya takes yer . . . oh no that’s right its free!

Levon Helm and Midnight Ramble - ‘Back To Memphis’ (2008)

Speaking of the Band . . . here’s our Levon . . . now THIS’LL start your week for sure and is dedicated to all my visitors here You KNOW who you are!

 In 2008, Levon Helm took his famous Midnight Ramble on the road. His stop at the world-famous Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, saw him perform "Back To Memphis" and many of his other hits.

Thanks to The Band: A History

Remembering Garth 'Honey Boy' Hudson August 2, 1937 - January 21, 2025

 Garth Hudson in his element, a complete genius. Remembering him on his birthday.

Garth Hudson

Remembering Garth 'Honey Boy' Hudson

August 2, 1937 - January 21, 2025

The Band's musical maestro has enchanted us with his sounds for decades. He was honored into the Rock and Roll of Fame in 1994.

“If you can’t write your song in half an hour, you’re in trouble - which is always true”.  

Garth Hudson 

 

 

Hey Mr Tambourine Man Bob with the Band and featuring Garth on accordion!

Garth solos from The Band

‘JAIME’ [Don’s Tunes/Route Books]

Robbie Robertson

Remembering Robbie Robertson (July 5, 1943 – August 9, 2023)

The Band - "Up on Cripple Creek" live at Wembley Stadium 1974

"I can't say that there's anything new, guitar-wise, that I find particularly stimulating. Some people play tremendously, but for some reason I'm not moved by it. Most of the things that fascinate me, have been fascinating for quite a while — in jazz, of course, I like Django Reinhardt, the innocence of that guitar playing. Today, I just don't hear anybody doing those things. Roy Buchanan plays very nice, always has. And Fred Carter, the guitarist I replaced with Ronnie Hawkins, was a terrific player at the time. But there are so many players of some years back, that I can't even start naming them.

Fender is comfortable for what I have to do, but I think Gibsons are better-sounding guitars. It's just that for what I'm trying to do, Fender is physically better for me. At one point I went from a [Fender] Stratocaster to a red B.B. King-style Gibson. I liked the way it sounded, but the string height and the shape of the body prevented me from doing some things that I'd grown accustomed to — for instance, it wasn't comfortable for my fingerpicks.

I went to Telecaster for ten years. I had one for a couple of years, then someone stole it. A friend of mine who is actually a thief stole me one back. I used it eight years and still have it. I have several others for specific things, but I ended up going back to the Stratocaster. Now I have an early Fifties Strat built without the string stretcher. Those are a problem for me with intonation. Like if I'm playing rhythm on the bass strings and I'm picking on the high strings, when I'm stretching notes it makes the bass strings go out of tune.

Steve Caraway / Guitar Player Interview 1976

Photo: David Attie/Getty Images

Don's Tunes

Robbie Robertson was born as Jaime Robertson in Toronto, Ontario on this day in 1943. 

When all the bells were ringing.

All the boys gone now . . . . . Garth the last to go and we really miss them . . . . . one of the best bands I ever saw live (Wembley 1974)

Route

"Mystery Train" - The Band live at Wembley Stadium 1974

and THIS is why I have been obsessed with Mystery Train ever since this version

They blew everyone else AWAY that day!

I once said so on social media (Flickennabok I think) and rec’d a smiley face comment from the page purporting to be Garth! I like (choose) to think it was him! 😉😎

💜 Rest easy now guys!

More from Floppy Boot Stomp / Voodoo Wagon this from their Facebook page

GUITARPLAYER.COM

"We were all very serious – guitar battles and everything…" Interviewed in late 1976, just prior to their split, The Band's Robbie Robertson and Rick Danko look back

The Band's 1976 Guitar Player cover story went onsale just as the band themselves came to an end. Founding members Robbie Robertson and bassist Rick Danko looked back on the country rock group that influenced a generation

The Band - We Can Talk |jt1674

For Garth . . . . .  

https://www.tumblr.com/jt1674/773301312444071936/the-band-we-can-talk

GARTH HUDSON dies at 87

The unique, renaissance man, multi -instrumentalist, at once a maverick magician and yet quiet voiced stoic steadfast still centre of the Band has passed away at his nursing home in Woodstock NY aged 87. 

recent posting from The Reconstructor - Bob and The Band at Big Pink

The Band (Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson) - Rag Mama Rag | Rockpalast- June 23, 1996

Garth Hudson, whose intricate swirls of Lowrey organ helped elevate the Band from rollicking juke-joint refugees into one of the most resonant and influential rock groups of the 1960s and ’70s, died on Tuesday in Woodstock, N.Y. He was 87 and the last surviving original member of the group.

One of the most inventive keyboardists in the history of rock & roll, Hudson was born in London, Ontario, on Aug. 3, 1937 — years before his fellow Band members — to a pair of gifted musicians: His mother was a pianist, and his father played a variety of wind instruments, though he was employed as a farm inspector and entomologist.

Hudson was a prodigy who once disassembled his father’s old pump organ and rebuilt it. He was playing accordion in a country band at age 12; his parents sent him to the Toronto Conservatory, where he learned to play Bach preludes; at an uncle’s funeral parlor, he played Anglican hymns. (“The Anglican church has the best musical traditions of any church that I know of,” he told author Barney Hoskyns in the Band biography Across the Great Divide.) 

With his reserved manner and technical skills, he lent the group a gravitas that set it apart from peers during the Summer of Love. The freewheeling sessions with Dylan at Big Pink — remarkably well-recorded by Hudson using an Uher reel-to-reel tape recorder — would eventually be documented on The Basement Tapes, with Hudson supplying buoyant accompaniment on “This Wheel’s on Fire” and “Million Dollar Bash,” among other standouts.

The Genetic Method / Chest Fever - The Band - The Last Waltz

- Rolling Stone 

Garth Hudson Obituary - The Guardian

The Band - Katie’s Been Gone | Le Ramasseur De Mégots

Katie's Been Gone

Richard Manuel penned song by The Band

Le Ramasseur De Mégots

Photos from Music History

Robbie, Bobby Charles and the Doc (playing his Gibson Byrdland) cut from The Last Waltz

look at Robbie’s face!

How come so many were left out completely from The Last Waltz?

Bobby Charles, the legendary Louisiana songwriter behind classics like "See You Later, Alligator" and "Walking to New Orleans," played a unique role in The Last Waltz, The Band’s historic farewell concert in 1976. While he took the stage to perform "Down South in New Orleans" with Dr. John, his performance was the only one cut from the final film, thought he ended up on the soundtrack. 

Though excluded from the final edit, Bobby Charles' connection to The Band ran deep. He was a steady collaborator with Rick Danko, who played a key role in producing Charles' critically acclaimed 1972 self-titled album. Their partnership continued on Danko's 1977 solo album, where Charles contributed his signature blend of swampy grooves and soulful lyrics.

I loved Bobby Charles and can’t believe he was cut!? 

 

Songs in detail | THE BAND : THE WEIGHT by Aimee Ferrier / Far Out Magazine

Despite the popularity of The Band‘s signature song ‘The Weight’, it actually only charted at number 63 in the United States. Yet, these days, the track is recognised as one of the most iconic recordings of the 1960s, often celebrated as one of the best songs of the decade.

‘The Weight’ appeared on The Band’s 1968 debut album, Music from Big Pink, and uses a storytelling structure to depict the travels of a man through Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The song is rich with biblical language, with the first verse mirroring Mary and Joseph’s attempt to find a place to stay before the birth of Jesus.

As the track progresses, with both Levon Helm and Rock Danko alternating between lead vocals, the listener is introduced to a collection of unique characters, all inspired by people Robbie Robertson had met in real life. These bizarre figures give the song its unique charm, with Helm explaining the backstory in his autobiography, This Wheel’s On Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of The Band.

He wrote: “The song was full of our favourite characters. ‘Luke’ was Jimmy Ray Paulman. ‘Young Anna Lee’ was Anna Lee Williams from Turkey Scratch. ‘Crazy Chester’ was a guy we all knew from Fayetteville who came into town on Saturdays wearing a full set of cap guns on his hips and kinda walked around town to help keep the peace, if you follow me.”

Helm added: “We recorded the song maybe four times. We weren’t really sure it was going to be on the album, but people really liked it. Rick, Richard, and I would switch the verses around among us, and we all sang the chorus: Put the load right on me!”

The song is credited to Robertson, although Helm argues that the other members of The Band contributed a significant chunk of the lyrics. However, the song’s beginnings can be traced back to Robertson, who started writing it while jamming on his guitar. He noticed that the inside of his instrument contained a manufacturing label stating that it was made in Nazareth. From there, he began penning lyrics with the place in mind, drawing from various cinematic influences. 

While living at the Chelsea Hotel in New York, Robertson became acquainted with Gotham Book Mart, where he would read film scripts. “The bookshop was a dusty, funky place owned by Fanny Steloff that sold used and new books,” he explained in an interview. “After looking around, I found that the store also stocked movie scripts. I loved film, and had long wondered how plot elements in a film fit together. These scripts were like blueprints”.

Alongside Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, Robertson was also enamoured by the work of Spanish surrealist Luis Buñuel, best known for directing films such as Un Chien Andalou and Belle de Jour. “Luis Buñuel’s scripts for Nazarín and Viridiana, which examine the impossibility of sainthood, also captivated me,” he said. Thus, seeing the word ‘Nazareth’ inside his guitar “unlocked a lot of stuff in my head from Nazarin and those other film scripts”.

Robertson once explained in detail how Buñuel’s films connected with ‘The Weight’, stating: “People trying to be good in Viridiana and Nazarín, people trying to do their thing. In ‘The Weight’, it’s the same thing. People like Buñuel would make films that had these religious connotations to them, but it wasn’t necessarily a religious meaning. In Buñuel, there were these people trying to be good and it’s impossible to be good.”

He continued: “In ‘The Weight’ it was this very simple thing. Someone says, ‘Listen, would you do me this favour? When you get there will you say ‘hello’ to somebody or will you give somebody this or will you pick up one of these for me? Oh? You’re going to Nazareth, that’s where the Martin guitar factory is. Do me a favour when you’re there.’ This is what it’s all about. So the guy goes and one thing leads to another and it’s like ‘Holy shit, what’s this turned into? I’ve only come here to say ‘hello’ for somebody and I’ve got myself in this incredible predicament.’ It was very Buñuelish to me at the time.” 

- Aimee Ferrier / Far Out

Photo: Barrie Wentzell