Links to Cape Breton Fireside Blogs
The Band were an acclaimed and influential rock group. The original group consisted of Canadians Rick Danko (bass guitar, double bass, fiddle, trombone, vocals), Garth Hudson (keyboard instruments, saxophones, trumpet), Richard Manuel (piano, drums, baritone saxophone, vocals), Robbie Robertson (guitar, vocals), and American Levon Helm (drums, mandolin, guitar, vocals). All five members were notable musicians in their own right.
The members of the Band first came together as they joined rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins‘ backing group, The Hawks, one by one between 1958 and 1963. Upon leaving Hawkins in 1964, they were briefly known as The Levon Helm Sextet with sax player Jerry Penfound being the sixth member, then Levon and the Hawks after Penfound’s departure. In 1965, they released a single on Ware Records under the name Canadian Squires, but returned as Levon and the Hawks for a recording session for Atco later in 1965.[1] At about the same time, Bob Dylan recruited Helm and Robertson for two concerts, then the entire group for his U.S. tour in 1965 and world tour in 1966.[2] They also joined him on the informal recordings that later became The Basement Tapes.
Because they were always “the band” to various frontmen, Helm said the name “The Band” worked well when the group came into its own[3] and left Saugerties, New York, to begin recording their own material. They recorded two of the most acclaimed albums of the late 1960s: their 1968 debut Music from Big Pink (featuring the single “The Weight“) and 1969’s The Band. In 2004, “The Weight” was ranked the 41st best song of all time in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.[4]
The Band broke up in 1976, but reformed in 1983 without founding guitarist Robbie Robertson. Although the Band was always more popular with music journalists and fellow musicians than with the general public, they have remained an admired and influential group. The group was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1989[5] and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.[6] In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked them #50 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time,[7] and in 2008, they received the Grammy‘s Lifetime Achievement Award.[8]
The Band
Documents The Band’s entire career, from their start as the Hawks to the present, and to keep their fans updated on the current activities of the group
The Band, The Weight
The Band – The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
The Band, Up On Cripple Creek
Old Photos and Memories of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia 