The Band was a Canadian-American rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 1967, consisting of four Canadians and one American: Rick Danko (bass guitar, vocals, fiddle), Garth Hudson (keyboards, accordion, saxophone), Richard Manuel (keyboards, drums, vocals), Robbie Robertson (guitar, vocals), and Levon Helm (drums, vocals, mandolin, guitar).
The Band combined elements of folk, rock, jazz, country, and R&B. After beginning their musical journey as The Hawks, the backing band for rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins, the group gained recognition for playing with Bob Dylan on his legendary "Going Electric" tours in 1965 and 1966. After moving to Woodstock in 1967 & recording the seminal "Basement Tapes" with Dylan, the group began to write their own songs & changed their name to "The Band." They would go on to release several records to critical and popular acclaim, including their earth-shattering debut album Music From Big Pink (1968), The Band (1969), and the live concert album The Last Waltz (1978), captured on film by director Martin Scorsese and featuring music legends including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison and more. The Band's most popular songs include "The Weight" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". The Band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Since 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine has ranked The Band 50th on its list of The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, ranking "The Weight" 41st on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and three of their 7 studio albums in The Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2020 (#335, #100, #57) . In 2008, the group received the GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2014, they were inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. The Band’s music is indelibly woven into the fabric of American music from the 60s until today, with their songs being covered by everyone from Aretha Franklin (1969) to My Morning Jacket (2011). By fusing R&B, blues, country, folk, boogie-woogie, swing, Cajun, New Orleans-style jazz, and rock, The Band set the foundations for the Americana music movement and forever changed the course of popular music.
The Members
I love to play; a stage is a safe place for me to be. It's not that way for most folks, but I'd be lost without it.
"Up On Cripple Creek" on The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show was a television variety program that aired on CBS from 1948-1971. For 23 years it aired every Sunday night and played host to the world's greatest talents. The Ed Sullivan Show is well known for bringing rock n' roll music to the forefront of American culture
The Ubiquitous Sound of American Pop Culture
Musically, lyrically, and aesthetically, their music and story still permeate the artistic membrane of this planet in ways that sometimes go unnoticed, but are always felt. When The Band played, authenticity was at the root of the story; the kernel of truth from which all else sprung. These were five men, truly more than the sum of their parts, gathered together in such harmony that, once pulled apart by a story almost as bittersweet as any they had played, it could not be replicated.
