Robbie Robertson, guitarist and songwriter of The Band, dead at 80

legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Robbie Robertson has died after a long illness Robertson led the Canadian American group the band to rock prominence in the 1970s with hits like the weight The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and Up On Creek Robertson also worked extensively with Bob Dylan and Martin Scorsese and after the band's 1976 farewell concert The Last Waltz was captured on film by Scorsese Robertson worked with the director as a composer and music supervisor their long list of films together include hits like Raging Bull The Color of Money The Departed and the Wolf of Wall Street Robbie Robertson was 80 years old for more we've connected with Eric Alper he's a publicist and music commentator Erica this is some very sad news for the music world particularly here in Canada what's your reaction um shock sadness I mean this is this is one of the leaders of of this country's greatest band um certainly the most influential band that this country has ever had you know when you go through the the sheer list of artists that followed in the band's wake from everybody from The Beatles especially with George Harrison if you took a look at the Beatles photos when they were breaking up they were looking like members of the band they were wearing um you know brown suits and had their hair long and beard all the way up to Taylor Swift in fact her last couple of albums including folklore and Evermore are directly influenced by the band's music that they helped create a whole new genre of music in terms of folk rock and alternative Americana um you know with Robbie's ability to just mix folk music and rock music and Country and and take his influences um being in Canada um uh simply astonishing what he was able to create um and it's no wonder that he ended up working in the film world since his songs were so full of very very vivid imagery and narratives and emotions that it fit neatly both in the music world and the film world it's it's so interesting hearing you talk about the way he has influenced other musicians I had the chance to actually interview him it was probably six years ago seven years ago in his book testimony came out and I remember when talking to him he wasn't a name dropper but he quietly talked about those who he had worked with and and it wasn't just in the past but also you know he talked about the weekend artists who he admired who were who were current and all of these artists as you say were influenced by him but he sort of quietly did the the band was a sort of a quiet influence this wasn't uh they didn't appear to be a group that was all about the fame yeah and you know it's funny that you mentioned about those those artists that are are now in current because you you kind of struggle a little bit to go like how do you go from the band to the weekend well the fact of the matter is that because the band and especially Robbie Robertson has such a willingness to experiment with so many different sounds and instruments and Arrangements he encouraged not only himself internally but the rest of the band the rest of the music industry and the rest of the artistic world to take on Innovation to not be afraid of using little bits and pieces from here and here and here and that opens up a door to a house that is you you can't even you can't even imagine what it is sometimes it's never just in the details of the weight or the the you know or Dixie it's the fact of How They Carried themselves maybe means a little bit more to these artists than you know being influenced by that cord or that electric guitar you know what I also found so interesting about Robbie Robertson is that where his musical influence began here in Canada he's from Toronto he has he had family on uh six nations of the Grand River reserve and he he talks in his book and he talked to we were talking about how as a child he he went uh to to visit those family members saw that they could all play music and as a child he couldn't but then realized how much music was in him and and how that just you know the the expression of Music at Six Nations sort of really fueled him as throughout his adult life yeah it's something that a lot of indigenous artists actually speak about people from Bucky St Marie to Tom Wilson um and and even somebody like Gord Downey that that may not have grown up by the reserve but absolutely was influenced um by by our indigenous people and the culture um and it never leaves you it's more of a spirit thing it's more of a an influence not only in terms of songwriting or musical style or production but it it actually forms your being as a as a human and how you deal with people and how to craft those really compelling stories through music how to tell and be able to hold up a mirror to who we are as people and who we are as a city of Toronto and a province and a country so different from America but yet he was able to kind of have the rest of the world take notice about what he was doing yeah he went from exactly he went from Toronto he went from family in the Six Nations uh to working with the likes of Martin Scorsese on on movies that probably there are many Canadians who wouldn't even have realized that he took part in Wolf of Wall Street one of the the more recent uh but not not less notable than Raging Bull uh in terms of films and then there's the Last Waltz which for younger Canadians might not realize what an influential uh work of film and music that was what what do you think is if you can what's the most remarkable thing about Robbie Robertson's career that maybe Canadians aren't aware of but should know I you know what I'm gonna this is gonna sound really awful I just thought he was one of the coolest people on the planet right I mean the way that he carried himself the people he was hanging with from Eric Clapton to Bob Dylan to Martin to Van Morrison the way that he looked in the videos in the 80s 25 years after the band started here he was with his own solo work getting five stars across the board in Rolling Stone magazine he was already in his late 30s 40s mid 40s and he was still the coolest person on the planet there is nobody that I've ever been around Robbie to look at from behind him and see the reverence that people have of him and just imagine for a moment what it would be like to be Robbie Robertson with that history behind you where you could really do no wrong hanging out with who you were hanging out with and producing Quality Music after album after album for so long it's astonishing really yeah somebody with such quiet confidence that they didn't need to bra he never needed to broadcast that just if you were in the know of to who he was we did we did it all for him yeah you just knew he was he was the the cool of Canada Eric alfer thank you so much Eric Alper is a publicist and music commentator speaking with us from Toronto

Channel: CBC News

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Keywords: robbie robertson, the band, song writer, obituary, music news, entertainment news, entertainment, cbc, cbc news

Id: vrWGmqeR6xw

Length: 7min 22sec (442 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 09 2023