Song: Stage Fright
Artist: The Band
Album: Stage Fright (1970)
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**SPD Guest Post**
The Band were truly one of a kind. They might have seemed like any other 60s/70s group growing up in honky tonk joints through the late 50s/early 60s, but Bob Dylan doesn’t choose just anyone as his backing band.
However, this post really isn’t about the band nor their most famous and frequent collaborator, it’s an ode to Robbie Robertson, lost to us at 80 to sit in on that great gig in the sky with his former bandmates Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, and Rick Danko. Together, survived only by Garth Hudson, they turned roots rock into a lifestyle which echoed through the Catskills for decades.
Robertson didn’t shred like his contemporaries, instead his songwriting and assumed leadership (often to the chagrin of the band) continually found ways to dig deep into their souls to mine every ounce of talent, even if his own playing resided in the background. That is Stage Fright – the album and its eponymous title track. Whether you take the track’s meaning as a reference to Dylan or generally, you are certain to feel the heft of Hudson’s piano, the power of Helm’s drums, the twisting twang of Manuel’s keys, and the restrained tremble in Danko’s voice before finally feeling Robertson’s vision conclude.
Safe travels across the great divide, Mr. Robertson.
**Thank you SPD Friend Matt for this dedicated post