Bob Dylan - new album just out on Tidal - Rough and Rowdy Ways

When Dylan approached The Hawks in 1965, they were only vaguely aware of him. They came from a very different world, that of Rhythm & Blues, Blues, Jazz, Rockabilly (having served as Ronnie Hawkins’ band for a couple of years), and Hillbilly/Country. The Folk music heard on the radio was "p*ssy" music to them, effete urban and suburban "white" music.

They had been playing the "white chitlin" circuit, in working class bars across the east coast, midwest, and south (as well as up in Toronto), to hard drinking audiences, often separated from the audience by a chicken wire screen (to keep the flying bottles from reaching the stage ;-).

It was only after working with Dylan that they became what we hear on Music From Big Pink and the brown album, especially after spending all of 1967 in the basement of Big Pink, making music and recording it (the Basement Tapes, of course). Their influences---like that of Dylan---are deep and wide. Organist Garth Hudson is a classically-trained musician---reads music, knows music theory, etc. Levon Helm grew up listening to local Bluesmen---he lived in the same Arkansas town as Sonny Boy Williamson, sitting in the corner of the local radio station when SB performed live on the air---and The Grand Old Opry, just as had Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins. Bassist Rick Danko led his own Country band, once opening for Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks. Richard Manuel played around Toronto, known for his Ray Charles-influenced vocal style and ability.

The Band were definitely not a Rock band, but they did play Rock ’n’ Roll (if you appreciate the difference). But much more: Hillbilly, Blues, Pop, and music which defies categorization via such crude terms.

@tomcy6, I don't consider The Band a Rock band for this reason:

If you consider the early-to-mid 1950’s explosion of "teenage" music---Little Richard, Fats Domino, Bill Haley & The Comets, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent, the Sun Records Rockabillies (who combined black Rhythm & Blues with white Hillbilly)---Rock ’n’ Roll (which, for the sake of this argument I will accept, though I consider the late-40’s recordings of guys like Big Joe Turner---who did original versions of songs later covered by Bill Haley and Elvis---the true original R & R, though it was at the time called Jump Blues), then what differentiates it from "Rock" music?

The Rock ’n’ Roll of the 1950’s had Blues/Jump Blues/Rhythm & Blues elements, but also that of another predominantly-Southern music: Hillbilly. But after the music business and musical tastes (and the morality and official police forces) killed that original R & R, by the mid-60’s the music that we now consider Rock had taken it’s place. Gone almost completely in Rock music was the Hillbilly element, the Blues element becoming predominant. The Stones, The Yardbirds, The Kinks, The Who, Cream, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Santana, Big Brother & The Holding Company (featuring Janis Joplin, of course), The Airplane, etc. had ZERO Hillbilly in their music, and the same is true for the bulk of all Rock music that has followed. There are exceptions, but most bands we consider Rock are largely Blues-based. You want a band that had/has it all? Listen to NRBQ and Los Lobos. For solo artists Dave Edmunds and Buddy Miller.

Well, The Band’s music included that Hillbilly/Country element missing in Rock bands, so I consider them a true Rock ’n’ Roll band (though much more than that). I find it humorous that with the Hillbilly/Country element present n Rock ’n’ Roll almost completely removed in Rock, when that same Hillbilly/Country element was added back in by the likes of The Eagles, the resulting music was called Country Rock. Take the Country element out of Rock ’n’ Roll, call it Rock, then when you put the Hillbilly/Country back into Rock, you call it Country Rock? Shouldn’t it once again be Rock ’n’ Roll? In the case of The Eagles, a quick listen to their music will prove the answer to be no. But that’s because they had no Rock ’n’ Roll in them to begin with! The Band did.