ON August 11, two days after Robbie Robertson passed away, Bob Dylan released a rare public statement. “This is shocking news,” he wrote. “Robbie was a lifelong friend. His passing leaves a vacancy in the world.”
The Band’s music was a lodestone for many of us at Uncut – and for many of the musicians we write about – and the ‘vacancy’ left by Robertson can never be filled. It’s not just his ability to conjure up a new form of American music along with the rest of
The Band – music that was simultaneously ancient and modern, vibrant but sepia-toned – it’s the transcendent power of the songs that came with it. “The only thing I’m trying to do is write songs that if you listen to them in a couple of years, they’re not going to go down,” Robertson told Richard Williams, back in 1971. “A lot of people’s records that I really liked a couple of years ago, I listen to them now and I can’t understand how come I liked them so much… Timelessness is what I’m trying for, most of the time when it’s possible.”
Robertson’s passing comes just a few months after Garth Hudson – now the last surviving member of The Band – took part in a rare public appearance, filmed playing Duke Ellington’s “Sentimental Lady” at an event in upstate New York. While it’s right for us to mourn Robertson, the clip of Hudson – along with the deep dives back into The Band’s incomparable catalogue – reminds us of their formidable gifts as musicians. There’s a lot of great writing in UNCUT UK Magazine November 2023 issue, as there is I hope every month – but I’d recommend you start with Richard’s tribute to Robertson that begins on page 84.

Michael Bonner, Editor. Follow me on Twitter @michaelbonner

Download from:

NitroFlare

• Total Film – October 2023
• The Ultimate Guide to Horror – 7th Edition, 2023