Last member, er, full time, of "The Band" has died

Garth Hudson, last living member of "Bob Dylan's backup band" has died. Of course they went on to create one of the top Americana Bands, "The Band" and songs, "The Weight" and one of the best studio albums, "the brown album" and with Martin Scorcese, one of the best concert movies, "The Last Waltz". Also, the best rock christmas song, "Christmas Must Be Tonight".

"It Makes No Difference" "Up on Cripple Creek" "The Shape I'm In" "Stage Fright" "This Wheel"s on Fire" "King Harvest Has Surely Come", Rag Mama Rag, Unfaithful Servant, Life is a Carnival and of course, after the Weight and Cripple Creek, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" famously butchered by a folk singer who didn't know who Stoneman and his cavalry were. Then the several associations with Bob Dylan, I Shall be Released, Tears of Rage, You Aint Going Nowhere, later, Atlantic City, and Blind Willie McTell, and the "electric tours" where the crowds booed them as they toured in lieu of the Bloomfield/Kooper bands that backed Dylan on his first electric albums.

Garth was not Robbie Robbertson, who claimed all the writing credits not Dylans, or Levon Helm, arguably the face and most identifiable voice and torchbearer for Americana, or even the bass playing and singer Rick Danko. But his saxaphone on "It Makes No Difference" is a great example of his contributions, weighty, significant, without a headline.

I've watched these rock musicians die young and die in middle age as the muse is replaced by drugs, or dry out to live on to do reasonable facsimile tours. Garth chose to rust quietly after his great years, and live his life quietly. Good for him! Saw the Band a few times, at Watkins Glen, with Dylan in '74, in Big Sky from ten feet away (the post Robertson band) and again in Bozeman in a very cozy venue. Maybe once more in the 1970s I remember but not really. They did not improvise or jam, but played a solid show. If I preferred the Allmans and the Dead (all three at Watkins Glen) well, I was improvising along myself or I'd have never vagabonded my way to Montana. Still, there is no question they shook up all of rock by emphasizing all that is great about Americana: songs, harmonies, great playing.

Sorry to have him pass on. I loved the Band's music. Many of their songs were covered by other popular artists and if one was not paying attention to The Bands original work, it was easy to attribute the cover work to be the original work of the cover artist. "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" may have been the most prominent example of this phenom..