The Band: A History

This week we sit down and chat with Joe Forno. Forno was born in Woodstock, New York. His father an influential local and was friendly with The Band. Forno graduated Albany College of Pharmacy in 1973 and had a career as a pharmacist before assisting Richard Manuel and Levon Helm with their business dealings in 1983 that eventually lead to Forno managing The Band after Richard Manuel’s unfortunate...

“None of us truly understood where we were headed, but we knew change was inevitable.” The Band meant something, their music had spoken to many. Whether that meant flying from another continent, taking a train cross country, selling their worldly possessions or quitting a job, even the slightest hint that The Band could hang it up caused a reaction, a tidal wave.  And while uncertainty hung in the...

The release of Northern Lights - Southern Cross seemed like a new beginning or a re-conquering of rock music for The Band, but that was all critical appraisal. Northern Lights - Southern Cross publicly and privately held very different truths.  Deemed a comeback, and with that the expectation The Band resumed their mantle as kings of authentic rock music, The Band didn’t really see it that way on...

Fans of The Band may know Jonathan Taplin from his time as a road manger for The Band, but Jon’s career spans several decades in multiple industries.  A Princeton grad who marched with Martin Luther King, he was drawn to folk music from people like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and soon found himself working for Albert Grossman, Dylan’s manager. Not long after he went on to work with The Band for severa...

The Band: A History sits down with Jan Høiberg, the curator and owner of https://theband.hiof.no, the number one resource for all things Band related. Started in 1994, the website grew to become the official website of The Band. As years passed Jan became friendly with Band members Rick Danko, Levon Helm and Garth Hudson, travelling to Woodstock, New York on several occasions. Høiberg has run the...

“It took us coming in there to get them all in the studio with one another because there was a lot of bitching” Clapton reminisces about The Band’s state of mind in 1975.⁠ For all the success The Band had, The group was never truly able to become that cohesive group that they once were. Like timeless other examples in other bands, priorities were different, opinions were divided and drugs and alco...

“Nobody’s done what Bob Dylan’s done for us over the years. He helped Rick and Richard write those songs and was part of our workshop. Bob Dylan knew that The Band was not in great shape, and he wanted to help us out of the sense of goodness he felt for us.” Pressure was mounting on The Band who hadn't put out a critically acclaimed album in some years, nor were they getting on personally like the...

The Band: A History is joined by The Hippie Historian to talk about The Band's steeped history in Southern Ontario. We take you to some of the historic venues they played, the towns and areas in which they lived and much, much more. Find out more about the road trip and support The Hippie Historian here. Summer Garden Farewell The night is chill, the ballroom deserted The sound of dancing feet is...

Even after a few years of meaningless wandering, riddled with substance problems, creative problems The Band, unbeknownst to them, were about to embark on a two year journey that would elevate their profile to the largest they’d ever have. A new album with Dylan, a massive stadium sold out tour and much more.  Was it something they expected, most certainly not, was it something they wanted, beside...

The Band: A History interviews author Sandra Tooze about her new book Levon Helm: From Down in the Delta to the Birth of The Band and Beyond. Sandra is author of the acclaimed book Muddy Waters: The Mojo Man where she originally interviewed Levon Helm. We discuss Levon's career, spanning his early years, through The Band era and the post-Band era of The Barnburners, Midnight Rambles and more. Sand...

Something from the vault! We interviewed Garth Hudson a few years back. This interview mainly details a project I was working on about Richard Manuel, meaning most of the questions pertain to Garth's experiences with Richard Manuel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When The Band entered the studio to continue to record Moondog Matinee, they switched locations. This time they flew out to Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, California, to finish the last few songs. Los Angeles had been pulling The Band westward for some time. With the rest of the album to finish, The Band couldn't turn down a request from George Harrison and Ringo Starr to help them record in the...

"That was all we could do at the time. We couldn't get along—we all knew that fairness was a bunch of shit. We all knew we were getting screwed, so we couldn't sit down and create no more music. 'Up on Cripple Creek' and all that stuff was over—all that collaboration was over, and that” said Levon reflecting on the period just before the recording of "Moondog Matinee". In 1971, "Rock of Ages" led...

The Band: A History sits down with famed photographer Elliott Landy to discuss his lengthy career in photography and the time he spent with The Band in their formative years. Landy has since gone on to publish a number of books including his second book about The Band entitled "Contacting The Band" which is currently being crowdfunded. You can find information about "Contacting The Band" and suppo...

“Everybody had been so easily satisfied before and then it got harder to do what we did at ease… The feeling that the group had become what we’d rebelled against… that’s what a lot of the music after The Band was about.'' Robbie Robertson reflected in 1982 on the Rock of Ages period in The Band's history. It had felt like a while since The Band actually felt like a well-oiled unit. Truth be told,...

In 1993 Rick Danko told The News-Star: "I think we shipped a million copies of that second album and that changed a lot of people’s lives — in particular, the Band’s. After that, we were only getting together once a year, for a couple of months, to record. It was like we were too decadent to play.” 1970 was a hard year, but it wouldn't get any easier in 1971. Having struggled through "Stage Fright...

The Band: A History sits down with Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band filmmaker Daniel Roher to discuss the making of his documentary on Robbie Robertson. We discuss Roher's career in the Canadian documentary world, elevating his craft, the luck of landing "Once Were Brothers" and all that went into making the film, from star-studded interviews, Robbie and Levon's feud, Garth's excl...

Rick Danko stated once: “Those first royalty checks we got almost killed some of us”. By 1970, The Band started to reap the rewards of their first two albums. Remember, it has only been two years since the release of “Music From Big Pink”. It may feel like an elongated period of time, but The Band was a workhorse powering through producing an album yearly while also staying busy on other projects....

The Band's follow-up self-titled album "The Band" was a success and bigger than their first effort. You'd think they'd slow down and smell the roses, but they didn't. The Band never followed the same path as everyone else and continued to dive deep into recording. Oftentimes as individuals rather than a group, each member spent serious time in 1969 and 1970 working on their friend's projects, incl...

While The Band had critical success on their first studio effort in 1968's "Music From Big Pink" they didn't waste any time before getting back into the studio to make their follow-up. The Band was now respected in their own right apart from Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan. They had the support of a growing fanbase, critics and most importantly musicians like George Harrison and Eric Clapton. However...

The mythical proportion that has graced "Music From Big Pink" has been there since the beginning. By the late sixties, everyone was buzzing about what Dylan and The Band were doing in upstate New York.  "Music From Pink" quaked the music world, and its profound impact changed the perspective of the largest artists of the day. George Harrison was obsessed, and Eric Clapton famously quit Cream and w...

This week we dive deeper into the legendary roots-rock group, The Band, as they move up to join Bob Dylan after he recovers from his motorcycle accident. Excited to spend some time off the road, they took the opportunity to write and record some music. They started to rent the famous clubhouse they called "Big Pink". The Basement Tapes became the legacy of over a year of creating and making music...

This week we dive deeper into the legendary roots-rock group, The Band, as they join Dylan. Detailing the years between 1964 through 1966, we take a look at the group as they get to see the world: private jets, A-list celebrities, turmoil and more. The Hawks got to experience the very best of music and the very worst. From seeing how a master like Bob Dylan writes and performs to having crowds of...

This week we dive deeper into the legendary roots-rock group, The Band, after they left Ronnie Hawkins. Detailing the years between 1964 into 1965, we take a look at a group of young musicians who were experimenting with their sound. From their relentless touring across Eastern Canada in through the Southern states of the United States of America, we are exposed to a very interesting period of tim...

Ronnie "The Hawk" Hawkins recounts the legendary singer from Arkansas's role in music history, specifically rockabilly and his role in developing the sound in Canada through Canadian musicians. Moreover, the episode looks at how Hawkins put together a group of musicians that later became the legendary roots-rock group, The Band.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices