RIP Robbie Robertson, Leader of The Band, Dies at 80

To pay tribute I hope everyone listens to some of Robbie's music tonight and tomorrow, whether it's The Band, his solo music, or his soundtrack work. It's all stellar. I'm still in shock over this news. and just wanted to pass on a few of my favorite moments from his career and in one case a moment which was among those that totally changed me as a musician, no hyperbole at all.

That specific moment was when I first saw The Last Waltz, the performance of Further On Up The Road with Eric Clapton. I was heavily into learning how to play blues guitar, and as many others through the years, Clapton was one of the guitarists I started to learn from. So here I am watching "The Waltz" as we all called it back in the day (thanks guys, you don't read this board but know how much I appreciate all of you) for the first time. Clapton is playing his Blackie Strat, and his strap comes off. Robbie steps up and plays one of my favorite guitar solos of all time. It's not even worth describing, just listen to him play and the impact on me was like a game changing moment. The notes he played, the way he played them...I wasn't hearing blues played like that at that age. It stood out in a way Clapton's playing that night didn't, and I wanted to do what Robbie did. For years I was telling people you gotta watch Robbie blow Clapton off the stage, I've since mellowed on that, but hot damn the way Robbie just took over the stage was something he purposely didn't do as often with his own music with The Band, but it was as electric of a solo for me at the time as anything else. I fucking love watching The Last Waltz and that moment always stands out. It was probably as close as I would hear to what Robbie did with The Hawks, and with Dylan on those first electric tours as I'd get.

Then the other stuff was the Dylan UK tour recordings. I just loved the way Robbie played those songs, he had an edge that was all his own, and he was playing songs that the great Michael Bloomfield had recorded previously. But to hear Robbie cut loose on his Telecaster in '66 with Dylan is part of the energy that was there on that tour and I'm so happy more and more tapes of it came out over the years. Dylan '66, for what he and the backing band were doing, it's still amazing to hear.

One of my favorite movie scenes of all time is when The Weight plays loud in Easy Rider. Cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs filmed the beautiful landscapes as the guys were on the road and allowed the sunlight to bleed into the cameras, creating that washed out, whiteout effect which was previous for the most part a bad thing to do but Kovacs made it an art form in that scene. And the way that song plays through the scene and camera shots was one of the most perfect marriages of music and visuals I've ever seen in film. Absolutely glorious art and music, a perfect blend. I've rewatched that montage many, many times and it still gets me. Robbie's guitar intro, borrowed in spirit from Pops Staples whom he loved, sets up the whole scene before anything else even comes in. No accident Robbie got into film scoring later in his career.

And as far as The Last Waltz...a film very very close to my heart. Without going into it too much, just do yourself a favor and watch "It Makes No Difference" from the film, it's up on YouTube. The instrumental sections where Robbie trades guitar solos with Garth Hudson on soprano sax are absolutely gut wrenching beautiful to my ears.

I can barely think of any similar moments that have caught my attention to anything close to those levels from artists born after 1990. I'm grateful to have lived with this music as I grew up and am still kicking around as a musician, and thankful to the guys like Robbie who created such amazing art.

That's about all I can say for now, though there are many more examples of Robbie's art to cite and celebrate. I had to get that out with people who understand what passion for music really is.

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