Tag: The Band

Garth Hudson Returns to Big Pink

Big Pink

Rolling Stone magazine recently visited the legendary Big Pink with The Band’s Garth Hudson, returning to the house for the first time since he moved out. In the video, Hudson talks about his experiences at Big Pink with The Band and with Bob Dylan, explaining more about the recording of the famous Basement Tapes.

The video coincides with Bob Dylan’s recent release of The Basement Tapes Complete: The Bootleg Series Vol. 11. Check out the video of Garth Hudson visiting Big Pink once again, concluding with him playing the piano in the basement.

For more on Big Pink, you may head over to Mashable to check out a short video showing the trip from New York City to Big Pink, narrated by Jeff Bridges.

Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Late Night With Jimmy Fallon’s Last Waltz

    Fallon The Muppets
    In the last few weeks, media attention has focused on Jay Leno’s exit from The Tonight Show, even though at the same time, Jimmy Fallon was winding down Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. The focus was understandable, considering that NBC was merely moving Fallon down the hall to take a seat behind the desk at The Tonight Show. Last night on Late Night, Jimmy Fallon had an appropriately subdued farewell show that recognized a chapter was ending, not a book. Still, the show featured a number of nice moments. One of the highlights, which illustrated Fallon’s intelligence and respect for history, was going out with a nod the The Band‘s famous last bow, The Last Waltz (1978).

    Before Late Night closed with Fallon walking down the hall to The Tonight Show studio, the final musical performance on a show known for music featured Fallon playing drums with the Muppets as the group performed “The Weight.” The video recreated the look of The Band’s own performance of the song in The Last Waltz, the Martin Scorsese directed documentary about The Band’s final show. Fallon, always respectful of his audience’s intelligence, made no reference to The Last Waltz, recognizing folks would either get the reference or just enjoy the song. Check it out.

    The filming of the musical performance even echos the look and lighting of The Last Waltz performance, starting with the opening shot of Fallon playing drums and singing in the place of the late great Levon Helm. Check out the song from The Last Waltz, a performance that also featured Mavis Staples and The Staple Singers:

    Earlier in his final Late Night show, Fallon also told a little Muppet history, explaining how many years ago when Jim Henson and Frank Oz had visited the studio, the two had painted characters on some exposed pipes. Fallon discussed how when he took over the show, they had remodeled so the paintings could be seen by more people.

    In the Late Night time slot, Fallon already has set a high bar for himself as he transfers to the earlier more high-profile show. From fun performances like this one of “The Weight,” incorporating a classic music and movie reference that respected the intelligence of his audience, I am betting Fallon will be hosting The Tonight Show for a long time.

    What do you think of Fallon taking over The Tonight Show? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Goin’ Down the Road to See Bessie

    Bessie Smith April 15 is tax day, but it is also the birthday of great blues singer Bessie Smith, who was born April 15, 1894. Chimesfreedom has previously discussed Smith and her performance of “St. Louis Blues,” so today we consider a song about her that was written by Rick Danko and Robbie Robertson of The Band.

    In “Bessie Smith,” the singer describes a trip to see Smith. It appears the singer is in love with her, but he questions whether or not the love is based on the way she could sing.

    Now in my day I’ve made some foolish moves;
    But back then, I didn’t worry ’bout a thing;
    And now again I still wonder to myself;
    Was it her sweet love or the way that she could sing?

    Apparently, time has passed since the singer last saw his love. And he wonders how she will react when she sees him again (“When she sees me will she know what I’ve been through? / Will old times start to feelin’ like new?”). We first heard the song when it came out on The Basement Tapes made by The Band and Bob Dylan, although only The Band plays on the song and there is some debate about when the song was actually written and recorded. (Update: Unfortunately, the Band’s version of “Bessie Smith” is no longer available on YouTube.)

    In a thorough discussion of the history of the song, Peter Viney quotes one of Danko’s obituaries describing “Bessie Smith” as “a sepia-styled valentine to the fine line between respect and adoration, and the ways in which music blurs them both into love.” Viney also raises the possibility that the song is about an “appointment with death,” because by the time it was written and recorded, Bessie Smith had been dead for decades.

    Several artists have covered “Bessie Smith,” including Ray Lamontagne and Joe Henry. Norah Jones performs a nice cover of “Bessie Smith” in this video. Check it out.

    Bessie Smith died from injuries from a car accident in 1937, just as she was starting a comeback. Although The Band’s song about her was not done in her style of singing, The Band was well aware of the history of American music, and “Bessie Smith” was a nice tribute to an important American singer. And so it is our birthday tribute too.

    What is your favorite Bessie Smith song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    You Can’t Raise a Caine Back Up

    Robert E Lee Bobblehead The Onion AV Club recently presented this cover of The Band’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” as part of its Underground series. Here, Glen Hansard is joined by Lisa Hannigan, who is touring with Hansard, and John Smith to sing the song at Chicago’s Architectural Artifacts, a museum and store.

    In the first part of the video before they sing the song, Hansard talks about the first time he heard “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and how he always remembers that moment in his life when he thinks of the song. Check it out.

    “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” which evokes the waning days of the American Civil War in the South, first appeared on The Band’s self-titled album in 1969. Since then, there have been a number of live versions released by The Band, including on The Last Waltz (1976), and the song has been recorded by other artists, including a hit version by Joan Baez in 1971. As in the case of the artists in the video above, Baez does a great cover on the song, but the definitive versions remain with Levon Helm’s lead singing with The Band.

    Even though the songwriting is officially credited to Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm later noted that he helped with the research and the writing. Whether or not he wrote the song, it became his song when he sang it. Apparently, Helm never sang the song again after his performance at The Last Waltz, shown below when all the people were singin’.

    What is your favorite version of “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Levon Helm RIP

    Breaking news is that Levon Helm, the singer and drummer of The Band as well as a solo artist, just passed away, surrounded by family in friends. Heaven just got a great singer and drummer. Check out a recent interview with Helm, and check out this video of “The Weight” with John Hiatt. RIP man.

    Also here is Helm’s haunting vocals on “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” from Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz.

    On his Facebook page yesterday, The Band’s Robbie Robertson wrote of going to visit Helm one last time, concluding, “Levon is one of the most extraordinary talented people I’ve ever known and very much like an older brother to me. I am so grateful I got to see him one last time and will miss him and love him forever.” So will we all.

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