Robbie Robertson

:For the fictional editor in the Spider-Man comic, see Joseph "Robbie" Robertson.

The Band

Bob Dylan hired The Band for his famed and controversial tours of 1965 and 1966, his first wide exposure as an electrified rock and roll performer rather than his earlier acoustic folk sound. Robertson's distinctive guitar sound was an essential part of the music; Dylan famously praised him as "the only mathematical guitar genius I?ve ever run into who doesn?t offend my intestinal nervousness with his rearguard sound."

Related Topics:
Bob Dylan - Rock and roll - Folk

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From their first album, Music From Big Pink (1968), The Band were praised as one of rock music's preeminent groups. Rolling Stone in particular lavished praise and coverage on The Band to an extent rarely seen in that magazine.

Related Topics:
Music From Big Pink - Rock music - Rolling Stone

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Robertson sang only a few songs with The Band, but was the group's primary songwriter, and was often seen as the de facto bandleader. Drummer and singer Levon Helm would later claim that Robertson took too much songwriting credit for The Band's material.

Related Topics:
The Band - De facto - Drummer - Levon Helm

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In 1976, Robertson decided to break up The Band, reporting that he was profoundly exhausted by nearly twenty years' worth of almost non-stop touring. In The Last Waltz, Robertson noted that he had been playing live rock and roll music nearly since rock and roll began.

Related Topics:
1976 - The Last Waltz - Rock and roll

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The Band reformed in 1983, without Robertson.

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