Category Archives: The Band

January 20: Bob Dylan & The Band @ The Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert in 1968

Woody Guthrie had died (after fifteen years of illness) on October 3, 1967, and, apparently at Dylan’s suggestion, plans were made to hold a benefit concert in his honor. The concert took place January 20, 1968, at Carnegie Hall; Dylan appeared backed by the Band (other performers included Odetta, Pete Seeger, Jack Elliot, and Judy Collins), and played three Woody Guthrie songs: “Grand Coulee Dam,” “Dear Mrs. Roosevelt,” and “I Ain’t Got No Home.” These performances were later released on a Columbia album called A Tribute to Woody Guthrie, Part 1. Dylan and the Band are in fine form here – their performances are inventive, exuberant, and sublimely musical.
-Paul Williams (Bob Dylan Performing Artist I: The Early Years 1960-1973)

Carnegie Hall
New York City, New York
20 January 1968
The Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert. Afternoon show.

  • Bob Dylan (guitar & vocal)
  • Robbie Robertson (guitar)
  • Richard Manuel (piano)
  • Garth Hudson (organ)
  • Rick Danko (bass)
  • Levon Helm (drums)

Continue reading January 20: Bob Dylan & The Band @ The Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert in 1968

January 15: Bob Dylan & The Band at Maryland in 1974 (audio, almost full concert)





bob dylan and the band 1974

Capital Centre
Largo, Maryland
15 January 1974

  • Bob Dylan (vocal, guitar, harmonica)
  • Robbie Robertson (guitar)
  • Garth Hudson (organ & piano)
  • Richard Manual (keyboards)
  • Rick Danko (bass)
  • Levon Helm (drums)

Continue reading January 15: Bob Dylan & The Band at Maryland in 1974 (audio, almost full concert)

June 26: Bob Dylan & The Band – The Basement Tapes (1975)

bob dylan basement tapes

That was recorded in ‘66, ‘67 up in Woodstock, you know, before Woodstock, before the big Woodstock Festival, before Woodstock was discovered, exploited, I don’t know. We were just all up there sort of drying out.
[Mary Travers: You and the Band?]
Yeah. The members of the Band and various other people, up there making music and planting gardens and just watching time go by. So in the meantime we made this record, made this – actually it wasn’t a record, it was just songs which we’d come, you know, to, er, this basement and record; out in the woods. That’s basically it really. Uh, the records have been exposed throughout the years so somebody mentioned it was a good idea to put it out, you know, as a record, so people could hear it in it’s entirety and know just exactly what we were doing up there in those years and it’ll be out shortly.
~Bob Dylan (Mary Travers interview, April 1975)

People have told me they think it’s very Americana and all that. I don’t know what they’re talkin’ about.
~Bob Dylan (Kurt Loder interview, March 1984)

..Because the Dylan is all work tape, the music is certifiably unpremeditated, lazy as a river and rarely relentless or precise–laid back without complacency or slickness. The writerly “serious” songs like “Tears of Rage” are all the richer for the company of his greatest novelties–if “Going to Acapulco” is a dirge about having fun, “Don’t Ya Tell Henry” is a ditty about separation from self, and both modes are enriched by the Band’s more conventional (“realistic”) approach to lyrics. We needn’t bow our heads in shame because this is the best album of 1975. It would have been the best album of 1967 too. And it’s sure to sound great in 1983. A+
~Robert Christgau (album review in 1975)

..John Rockwell in the New York Times declared it “The greatest album in the history of popular American music.” But it wasn”t, and for all the riches within it, all of which are presented out of context, it was a shamefully poor representation of an astonishingly creative, important period in this great artist”s working life.
~Michael Gray (The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia)

“Odds & Ends” @ spotify:

Continue reading June 26: Bob Dylan & The Band – The Basement Tapes (1975)

May 26: The late great Levon Helm was born 1940

 

May 26: The late great Levon Helm was born 1940

Mark Lavon “Levon” Helm , was an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band.

Helm was known for his deeply soulful, country-accented voice, and creative drumming style highlighted on many of The Band’s recordings, such as “The Weight”, “Up on Cripple Creek”, “Ophelia” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”.

The Band – Atlantic City (written by Bruce Springsteen), from “The Road” TV series (1995), shot 8/5/94 in Rockford, IL:

Continue reading May 26: The late great Levon Helm was born 1940

April 19: Levon Helm died four years ago, Rest In Peace

April 19: Levon Helm died four years ago, Rest In Peace

Mark Lavon “Levon” Helm , was an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band.

Helm was known for his deeply soulful, country-accented voice, and creative drumming style highlighted on many of The Band’s recordings, such as “The Weight”, “Up on Cripple Creek”, “Ophelia” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”.

“The Mountain.” (written by Steve Earle) From Levon Helm’s album “Dirt Farmer.” Photographs by Lewis Hine. Levon’s distinct vocal and forceful performance really shines in this wonderful interpretation (audio only):

Continue reading April 19: Levon Helm died four years ago, Rest In Peace