I could talk for hours about The Band, and have. Levon Helm is a musical giant in my book, and I’m not alone in that sentiment. Here’s part of his great story:
Levon grew up in Helena, Arkansas, the same town in which blues harmonica-great Sonny Boy Williamson lived. In the mid-1950’s Sonny Boy often performed on the local radio station’s live afternoon show. Levon, then in High School, would go to the station after school and situate himself in a corner of the studio, watching and listening to the Negro band. He got himself a snare drum, learned his rudiments, and started playing dances around town (how musicians started out in those days).
Ronnie Hawkins was a local Rockabilly singer who had had some success, and when he lost his drummer (whose wife had insisted he get a real job) he approached Levon about joining his back-up band, The Hawks. Hawkins had already been up to Canada, where the clubs, bars, dancehalls, etc,. were paying American bands real well. Levon was rarin’ to go, but his family insisted he finish High School first. No one in Levon’s family ever had! This was farming country; people stayed in school long enough to learn the 3 R’s, then went to work picking cotton or whatever.
Hawkins decided to hang around for the few months left in Levon’s education, then Ronnie, Levon, and the rest of The Hawks headed North. Up in Canada, every so often one of The Hawks would leave the band, and Ronnie would hire a replacement from the local talent pool. Those replacements included Robbie Robertson (guitar), Rick Danko (bass), Richard Manuel (piano), and Garth Hudson (organ, sax), hired one by one. Levon had been happy to be a hired sideman, but now thought this version of The Hawks---later to be renamed The Band---were ready to go out on their own. And that they did.
They traveled down into the States, playing all across the South, the Midwest, and up and down the Eastern seaboard, at every honky-tonk, bar, nightclub, and dancehall that had live entertainment. In 1965 they had a week off, so took a trip to Helena, to look up Sonny Boy, whom they heard had just returned from a tour of The UK and Europe. They drove into town, and saw Sonny Boy walking down a street in his suit and bowler hat. Levon reminded him of their meeting at the radio station years ago, and introduced the other Hawks to him. They decided to head to a nearby soul food restaurant, where they ate, drank, and talked. Some cops showed up, asked the young white men what they were doing hanging around with Negroes, and told them to get outta town. In 1965, segregation was alive and well in Arkansas. The Hawks made arrangements to meet Sonny Boy the next day, where he and they got down to playing some music. For hours.
Sonny Boy was stunned by this white band’s knowledge of and abilities at playing Blues music, and he and they discussed them going on the road with him as his backing band. The asked about his UK/European tour, and the local back-up bands the tour promoter had provided him with. He said of the bands: "They wanna play the Blues SO bad. And that’s just how they play it". One of those bands was The Yardbirds, whose guitarist at the time was Eric Clapton ;-).
Before they were to go on the road with Sonny Boy, The Hawks received a call from Sonny Boy’s people, telling them he had passed away. Later that year they received a call from Bob Dylan’s manager, making them the same offer. The rest is history. By the time they started recording Music From Big Pink in January of 1968, The Band had been playing together longer than had The Beatles, who were beginning their slow death. Playing together for eight before getting a major-label deal had turned them into the best Rock ’n’ Roll Band in the world. They will NEVER be equaled.