Every Friday around 11 a.m. Central, it’s time for Classic Americana on Radio Heartland. We pull a special track from the archives or from deep in the shelves to spotlight a particular artist or song.

Part Cayuga and Mohawk, Toronto-born Robbie Robertson was best known for his work playing lead guitar for Bob Dylan and for being a member of The Band – capital T, capital B — the legendary Canadian-American folk-rock outfit known for songs like “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and “Up on Cripple Creek.”

Born July 5, 1943, Robertson got hooked on music as a teenager, discovering rock and roll and R&B by tuning in AM stations from Buffalo, New York, and Nashville. He began playing in bands as a teenager, and was hired by Ronnie Hawkins — an American expat known as the “father of Canadian rock and roll” — as a musician in his backing band, The Hawks. In the Hawks, Robertson became bandmates and friends with Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson. They broke off from Ronnie Hawkins in the mid-60s, to eventually accompany Bob Dylan.

Because of their reputation as a backing band for Ronnie Hawkins, Bob Dylan and others, the Hawks changed their name to The Band in 1968, releasing their debut album, Music From Big Pink, that same year; it includes “The Weight,” which we’ll hear this week as our Classic Americana pick.

The Band released nine more studio albums on their own, as well as two with  Bob Dylan, including 1975’s The Basement Tapes, which features the song, “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.”

The Band’s farewell show with Robertson in the lineup was famously documented in the 1978 concert film The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorsese. Robertson went on to become widely recognized as a film producer and a composer and supervisor of film soundtracks — most notably, for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese on such films as Raging Bull, Casino, Gangs of New York, The Irishman, as well as Killers of the Flower Moon, released two-and-a-half months after Robertson died on August 9, 2023.

On hearing of Robertson’s passing, Bob Dylan said, “This is shocking news. Robbie was a lifelong friend. His passing leaves a vacancy in the world.”

And Neil Diamond tweeted that the “music world lost a great one with the passing of Robbie Robertson. Keep making that Beautiful Noise in the sky, Robbie. I'll miss you.”

Martin Scorsese said, “Robbie Robertson was one of my closest friends, a constant in my life and my work. I could always go to him as a confidante. A collaborator. An advisor. I tried to be the same for him. Long before we ever met, his music played a central role in my life — me and millions and millions of other people all over this world. The Band’s music, and Robbie’s own later solo music, seemed to come from the deepest place at the heart of this continent, its traditions and tragedies and joys. It goes without saying that he was a giant, that his effect on the art form was profound and lasting. There’s never enough time with anyone you love. And I loved Robbie.”

Classic Americana Playlist

External Links

Robbie Robertson – Universal Music Group website