The Band

The Band — Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Garth Hudson — formed in Toronto in the early 1960s as the Hawks, backing Ronnie Hawkins and then Bob Dylan on his controversial 1966 electric tour. Their debut Music from Big Pink (1968) and The Band (1969) drew on country, gospel, R&B, and Appalachian folk music to create what Greil Marcus called the sound of America talking to itself. The Weight, Up on Cripple Creek, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, and Rag Mama Rag are foundational American rock songs. Four of the five members were Canadian, yet they channeled a mythic version of the American South with more authenticity than most Southern bands. Their farewell concert, The Last Waltz (1976), filmed by Martin Scorsese, is the greatest concert film ever made.