Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson
Jaime Royal "Robbie" Robertson, OC, is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist best known for his work as lead guitarist and primary songwriter for The Band. As a songwriter, he is credited for "The Weight", "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", "Up on Cripple Creek", "Broken Arrow", "Somewhere Down the Crazy River", and many others. He has been inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 greatest guitarists...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth5 July 1943
CityToronto, Canada
CountryCanada
One of the greatest live recordings, I think, in the history of the world is Ray Charles in Atlanta... And they didn't even have a big mobile recording thing set up. The word on the street was they only had like two microphones, one for the band and one for him. Perfect recordings. I think it's mono.
I didn't even remember that we had recorded this, ... It's been lost for years and years. When I first heard it again, it really touched me. It's so Rick in his charm.
After the 'Last Waltz' concert, it just seemed very healthy to me to put making a record as far out of my mind as I possibly could.
Think about the number of people who do film music, make records and have a Native American heritage - and I may be the only one on the list.
I'm really lucky because I found myself in a position where I can do whatever I want to do. I can make records, produce records, make movies, or I can do nothing. I'm not a slave to the dollar.
That whole lifestyle - make a record, do a tour: I know how to do that. It doesn't interest me.
Record making is an extraordinary experience.
I like to work on records when I feel inspired, not because it's expected of me.
When you make a record, your own record, and you don't even recognize it yourself, it's hard to think if anybody else is going to recognize.
When you look at that period when Warhol and the Velvets and the Stones were doing things, it was this intersection of art and music. And then it went away.
The previous collections that have been done on The Band were OK,
One of the things I feel very strong about is the achievement of the Band really being a complete band.
Some bands today have the experience of really working together and honing their craft. And other bands are very much like, 'I just got a guitar for Christmas, let's start a band.' And you can hear the difference.
Sixteen years on the road is long enough. Twenty years is unthinkable.