By Dawoud Kringle

One of the most iconic and prolific songwriters, guitarists, producers, and rock journeymen, Robbie Robertson, passed on August 9th 2023. He was 80 years old.

Robertson was born on July 5th, 1943 and grew up on the Six Nations Reservation near Ontario Canada. He became interested in rock & roll music at a young age, and started playing guitar. He was mentored in playing guitar by his older cousin Herb Myke and other family members.
At the age of fourteen, he worked summer jobs in the travelling carnival circuit.

In 1956 Robertson, along with pianist/vocalist Bruce Morshead and guitarist Gene MacLellan formed their first band, Little Ceaser and the Consuls. In 1957 he formed Robbie and the Rhythm Chords. They changed the name to Robbie and the Robots after they watched the film Forbidden Planet (which featured the character Robbie the Robot).Later, Roberston and Pete Traynor (founder of Traynor amplifiers) joined with pianist Scott Cushnie and became The Suedes. They caught the attention of Ronnie Hawkins. Eventually, Hawkins recruited Roberston for his band Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks. Levon Helm was also in the band (and guitar virtuoso Roy Buchanan played with them briefly; and had an influence on Roberson’s style of guitar playing). In 1961, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Garth Hudson joined Hawkins. Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks cut sessions for Roulette Records throughout 1961–1963, all of which Robertson appeared on.

The Hawks left Ronnie Hawkins at the beginning of 1964 and formed The Levon Helm Sextet, the group included all of the future members of the Band, plus Jerry Penfound on saxophone and Bob Bruno on vocals. Bruno left in May 1964, and the group changed their name to Levon and the Hawks. Penfound stayed with the group until 1965. They also befriended blues artist John Hammond while he was performing in Toronto in 1964 Later in the year, the group agreed to work on Hammond’s 1965 album So Many Roads.

Levon and the Hawks cut a single “Uh Uh Uh” b/w “Leave Me Alone” under the name the Canadian Squires in March 1965. The single was released on Apex Records in the United States and on Ware Records in Canada. As Levon and the Hawks, the group recorded two singles for Atco Records, “The Stones I Throw” b/w “He Don’t Love You” and “Go, Go, Liza Jane” b/w “He Don’t Love You.” all of these were written by Roberson.

In August 1965, Robertson received a call from Bob Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman, requesting a meeting. Dylan intended simply to hire Robertson as the guitarist for his backing group. Robertson refused the offer, but did agree to play two shows with Dylan, and suggested they use Levon Helm on drums for the shows.

Robertson and Helm performed in Dylan’s backing band, with Harvey Brooks and Al Kooper. Eventually, Dylan hired the full band for his upcoming tour of the the United States throughout October–December 1965.

The tours were largely met with a hostile reaction from Dylan’s audience. They were folk purists and hated the idea of the use of electric instruments and saw it as a betrayal. From April 9-May 27, they played Hawaii, Australia, Europe, and the UK and Ireland. The Australian and European legs of the tour received a particularly harsh response from disgruntled folk fans

On November 30, 1965, Dylan recorded the non-LP single “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?”with the Hawks. In February, they recorded the Blonde on Blonde album, considered one of Dylan ‘s best.

On July 29, 1966, Dylan’s neck was severely injured in a motorcycle accident He and his wife and child retreated to upstate New York. Some of the members of the Hawks were living at theChelsea Hotel in New York Cityand were kept on a weekly retainer by Dylan’s management.

In February 1967, Dylan invited the members of the Hawks to work on music in Woodstock, NY. Robertson and his new wife moved into a house in the Woodstock area, and the other members of the Hawks rented a house nearWest Saugerties, NY which was later nicknamed Big Pink. Between spring and autumn of 1967 Dylan and the members of the Hawks worked together at the Big Pink house on new music, much of which was recorded at Big Pink. Word about these sessions began to circulate. In 1969, a bootleg album with a plain white cover compiled by two incognito music industry insiders featured a collection of seven tracks from these sessions. The album, ‘The Great White Wonder,” began to appear in independent record stores and receive radio airplay. In 1975, Robertson would produce an official compilation titled The Basement Tapes. In 2014, all 138 existing tapes were released in a compilation.

In late 1967, Dylan recorded his next album, John Westly Harding. He used a great deal of input form Robertson and Hudson for that album.

On the strength of these recordings, and live performances, Albert Grossman secured a contract with for the band with Capital Records. They recorded Music From Big Pink, which was released in 1968 under the name The Band. When the album was released in 1968, the Band initially avoided media attention, and discouraged Capitol Records from promotional efforts. They also did not immediately pursue touring to support the album, and declined to be interviewed for a year. The resulting mystery surrounding the group prompted speculation in the underground press.

Robertson wrote four of the songs on the album; “The Weight”, “Chest Fever”, “Caledonia Mission,” and “To Kingdom Come”. “The Weight would later be covered by artists such as Jackie DeShannon, Aretha Franklin, The Supremes, the Staple Singers, and the Temptations, and was used in dozens of films.

In 1969, the Band started touring. Their most notable performances from this period were at the Woodstock Festival and the Isle of Wight Festival, which they played with Dylan.

In September of that year, they released their second album, The Band. The song “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” had considerable cultural influence owing to its story from the perspective of a Confederate man’s life after the defeat of the South in the American Civil War. The song was famously covered by Joan Baez. The songs “Up On Cripple Creek,” “Rag Mama Rag,” and “Whispering Pines” also became hits.

In 1970, The Band became the first North American rock band to be featured on the cover of Time Magazine.

The Band’s next album, Cahoots, was released in October 1971. The album received mixed reviews; peaking at #24 on Billboard, and remaining in the Top 40 for five weeks.Cahoots is notable for its cover of Bob Dylan’s “When I Paint My Masterpiece.”

The Band toured throughout 1970-71. They recorded a live album titled Rock of Ages at a series of shows at the Academy of Music in New York City,

After a hiatus from performing, the Band returned. On July 28, 1973, The Band played at the Summer Jam at Watkins Glen. They shared the bill with the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band. A live recording of the performance was released in 1995, and the festival made the 1975 Guinness Book of World Records for largest pop festival attendance (with an audience of over 600,000).

The same year, they recorded Moondoc Matinee, an album of cover songs.

In 1974, The Band reunited with Bob Dylan. Dylan had signed with David Geffin and Asylum Records. They worked with Bill Graham on the Bob Dylan and The Band Tour of 1974. Graham took out a full-page advertisement for the Bob Dylan and the Band tour in The New York Times.

Between 5 and 6 million requests for tickets were mailed in for 650,000 seats. This forced them to sell tickets on a lottery basis. Dylan and the Band netted $2 million.
The same year, Dylan and The Band recorded two albums; Planet Waves and Before the Flood. The Band was also booked to play Wembley Stadium in London with Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, Joni Mitchell, and Jesse Colin Young.
The album release of The Basement Tapes by Bob Dylan and the Band, was produced by Robertson. It featured a selection of tapes from the original 1967 Basement Tapes sessions with Dylan, as well as demos for tracks eventually recorded for the Music From Big Pink album. It was released in July 1975.Not long after this, The Band worked on Northern Lights – Southern Cross. It was released in November 1975.
In June 1976 The Band began touring again. By this time, Rick Danko was contracted to Arista Records as a solo artist. Richard Manuel was involved in a boating accident that severely injured his neck. Ten dates of the 25-date tour were cancelled. During this time, Robertson made it clear that the Band would cease to operate as a touring act. Different accounts of the decision appeared in different sources, and it’s not clear why this happened.

Bill Graham booked them at the Winterland Ballroom on November 25, 1976. The show, named The Last Waltz, was a gala event, with ticket prices of $25 per person (a high price at the time). It included a Thanksgiving dinner served to the audience, and featured the Band performing with Ronnie Hawkins, Muddy Waters, Paul Butterfield, Dr. John, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, and Joni Mitchell. Robertson collaborated with director Martin Scorcese to film the event. Warner Brothers president Mo Austin offered to fund its filming in exchange for the right to release its music on an album. After Scorsese edited the film it was released by United Artists on April 26, 1978. It received favorable reviews.

Between 1974 and 1977, Robertson played guitar on recording sessions for several artists, including Ringo Starr, Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond, and ex-bandmates Levon Helm and Rick Danko.

Following the success of The Last Waltz, Robertson teamed up with Scorsese for the 1980 movie Carney which he both produced and starred in. This led to other collaborations with Scorsese between 1980 -1986. These included Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, and The Color of Money. The soundtrack for the later featured Eric Clapton’s “It’s In The Way That You Use It” which was co-written by Robertson, and a song for the film with blues legend Willie Dixon entitled “Don’t Tell Me Nothin’,” which was co-written with Robertson.

Robertson worked on Scorsese’s films Casino, The Departed, and Gangs of New York, worked as music supervisor for Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Silence. He scored The Irishman in 2019, and Killers of the Flower Moon, shortly before his death.

In 1986, Robertson recorded and released his first solo album Robbie Robertson for Geffin Records. Guest artists on the album, included U2, Gabriel The Bodeans, Maria McKee, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko also made appearances on the album. The track “Fallen Angel” was written in honor of Richard Manuel after his death in March 1986. The album made #77 in Rolling Stone’s 1989 list, “100 Best Albums of the Eighties.” Martin Scorcese directed the music video for the track “Somewhere Down The Crazy River.”
His next album “Storyville,” was released on September 30, 1991. Robertson brought in Band alumni Garth Hudson and Rick Danko as contributors. Two tracks from the album, “What About Now” and “Go Back To Your Woods”, charted on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts at #15 and #32 respectively, and the album was nominated for Grammy Awards in the categories “Best Rock Vocal Performance” and “Best Engineer”.

In 1984, Robertson co-produced the track “The Best of Everything” with with Tom Petty for SOuthern Accents, by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

In 1986, Robertson was brought on as creative consultant for Hail Hail Rock & Roll, the 1987 film honoring Chuck Berry.

Between 1988 and 1992, Robertson collaborated as a songwriter with Marina McKee, recorded and produced a new version of the Band’s “Christmas Must Be Tonight” for the Scrooged soundtrack, and produced the song “Love in Time” for Roy Orbison’s posthumous album King of Hearts.

In 1994, Robertson formed The Red Road Ensemble, and produced an album titled “Music for the Native Americans,” a collection of songs honoring his First Nation roots. The song, “Ghost Dance” was inspired by The Battle Of Wounded Knee and the near extinction of the bison in the United States. “Mahk Jchi (Heartbeat Drum Song)”was internationally acclaimed. He won a Juno Award for Producer of the Year, and headlined a festival in Italy along with other Indigenous musicians (part of the performance appeared on a PBS documentary).

The same year, The Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

His next solo album, 1988’s “Contact from the Underworld of Redboy,” focused on native traditions, including Peyote Healing. The album’s opening track, “The Sound Is Fading”, samples a recording of a young Native American singer from the 1940s that Robertson got from the Library of Congress.

In 2000, Robertson became the creative executive for Dreamworks Records.

In 2011, he released How to Become a Clairvoyant.The album features appearances by Eric Clapton, Steve Windwood, Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails), Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine), and others.

His final solo album “Sinematic,” was released in 2019. It featured a duet with Van Morrison.

In 2005, Robertson received an honorary doctorate from York University. He received many awards from Canadian institutions, including the Juno Hall of Fame, Canada’s Walk of Fame, Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, The Keys to the City of Toronto, and the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the community of Six Nations.

He was also the author or co-author of “Legends, Icons and Rebels: Music That Changed the World,” “Hiawatha and the Peacemaker,” and his autobiography “Testimony,”

The aforementioned gives only a brief and imperfect glimpse of Robertson’s accomplishments. Not one, but two nations rightfully treated him as a national treasure. His work encompassed and gave a clear and eloquent voice to the whole spectrum of American culture, especially the voice of the First Nations, which is all too often overlooked.

MFM salutes the memory and works of Robbie Robertson.