Do ya like good music?

[Taichiliberal]

One of the founding members of this group just recently passed, and their signature hit kept running through my mind. Although I'm not a big fan of country western per se, THESE GUYS HAD SOUL. "The Weight" by the BAND. Enjoy:

 

[evince]

Great song

I love the new Americana

I have always loved bluegrass


So that newly labeled scene is right up my alley

 

[Taichiliberal]

I have been roundly chastised by some folk that The Band was a blue grass derivative and NOT "country western" per se. I stand corrected.

 

[Tinkerpeach]

Great song.

They are country but more bluegrass.

Kind of a mix.

Really hard to classify their music kinda like Creedence Clearwater Revival.

They could even fall under classic rock.

 

[archives]

Based on the performers they personally invited to play at the “Last Waltz,” who they said influenced them, I don’t think they’d classify themselves as Country nor Bluegrass

 

[Althea]

Great song.

They are country but more bluegrass.

Kind of a mix.

Really hard to classify their music kinda like Creedence Clearwater Revival.

They could even fall under classic rock.

It's very hard to try and classify The Band. Their roots are in rock/folk, but I don't get bluegrass at all. Levon did play mandolin on a number of songs, but typically bluegrass relies heavily on banjo. I think 'Americana' is apt, especially given the lyrics and topics of a number of their songs. I would say folk rock describes them well.

 

[Althea]

Based on the performers they personally invited to play at the “Last Waltz,” who they said influenced them, I don’t think they’d classify themselves as Country nor Bluegrass

Agree. They were very unique.

 

[Althea]

I have been roundly chastised by some folk that The Band was a blue grass derivative and NOT "country western" per se. I stand corrected.

Their lyrics were very similar to bluegrass in flavor. They also did a lot of classic covers of folk and traditional music. I think the references to bluegrass and c/w are solely because both are traditional American music. I've seen Levon dozens of times, (including once at his barn) and you never know what he's going to dig up.

I think their cover of Atlantic City is better than the Springsteen original. Moondog Matinee was entirely covers of R&B and blues. Very hard to pinpoint an apt description of their sound.