The Band Photography

Long before The Band was an entity all its own, members Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, and Robbie Robertson were the backing musicians for singer Ronnie Hawkins and future folk legend Bob Dylan. Their official debut was 1968’s Music from Big Pink—the first in a streak of ten critically-acclaimed studio projects.

Along the way, this (mostly) Canadian crew intermingled roots rock, Americana, folk, and country with ease, logging singles such as “Up on Cripple Creek,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” and the frequently covered “The Weight.” All the while, they continued to collaborate with Dylan and cultivate relationships with other iconic artists.

In 1976, the Band said farewell to touring at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom with an all-star swansong featuring Dylan, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Muddy Waters, and many others that was preserved in Martin Scorsese’s groundbreaking documentary The Last Waltz. Though the deaths of Danko, Helm, and Manuel will forever prevent a full reunion, the group is forever immortalized in the Canadian Music and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.