The Band - Influence

Influence

The Band has influenced numerous bands, songwriters, and performers, from the Grateful Dead and The Beatles to Eric Clapton, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Led Zeppelin, Elvis Costello, Elton John, and Phish.

The album Music from Big Pink, in particular, is credited with contributing to Clapton's decision to leave the super group Cream. In his introduction of The Band during the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert, Clapton announced that in 1968 he'd heard the album, "and it changed my life." Guitarist Richard Thompson has openly acknowledged the album's influence on Fairport Convention's Liege and Lief, and journalist John Harris has suggested that The Band's debut also influenced the spirit of The Beatles' back-to-basics album Let It Be as well as The Rolling Stones' string of roots-infused albums that began with Beggars Banquet. Meanwhile, the Big Pink song "The Weight" has been covered numerous times, and in various musical styles. In a 1969 interview, Robbie Robertson remarked on the group's influence, "We certainly didnt want everybody to go out and get a banjo and a fiddle player. We were trying to calm things down a bit though. What we're going to do now is go to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and record four sides, four psychedelic songs. Total freak-me songs. Just to show that we have no hard feelings. Just pretty good rock and roll."

In the nineties, a new generation of bands influenced by The Band began to gain popularity, including Counting Crows, the Wallflowers, and The Black Crowes. Counting Crows indicated this influence with their tribute to the late Richard Manuel, "If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)" from their album Hard Candy. The Black Crowes frequently cover Band songs during live performances, such as "The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down", which appears on their DVD Freak 'n' Roll into the Fog. They have also recorded at Helm's studio in Woodstock.

The inspiration for the classic rock-influenced band The Hold Steady came while members Craig Finn and Tad Kubler were watching The Last Waltz. Rick Danko and Robbie Robertson are namechecked in the lyrics of "The Swish" from The Hold Steady's 2004 debut album Almost Killed Me. Also that year, southern rock-revivalists Drive-By Truckers released the track "Danko/Manuel" on the album The Dirty South.

In January 2007, a tribute album, entitled Endless Highway: The Music of The Band, was released which included contributions by My Morning Jacket, Death Cab for Cutie, Gomez, Guster, Bruce Hornsby, Jack Johnson and ALO, Lee Ann Womack, The Allman Brothers Band, Blues Traveler, Jakob Dylan, and Rosanne Cash, amongst others.