Robbie Robertson, 80, Dies; Canadian Songwriter Captured American Spirit
source link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/09/arts/music/robbie-robertson-dead.html
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Robbie Robertson, 80, Dies; Canadian Songwriter Captured American Spirit
As the chief songwriter and guitarist for the Band, he offered a rustic vision of his adopted country that helped inspire the genre that came to be known as Americana.
By Jim Farber
Robbie Robertson, the chief composer and lead guitarist for the Band, whose work offered a rustic vision of America that seemed at once mythic and authentic, in the process helping to inspire the genre that came to be known as Americana, died on Wednesday in Los Angeles. He was 80.
His manager, Jared Levine, said he died after a long illness.
The songs that Mr. Robertson, a Canadian, wrote for the Band used enigmatic lyrics to evoke a hard and colorful America of yore, a feat coming from someone not born in the United States. With uncommon conviction, they conjured a wild place, often centered in the South, peopled by rough-hewed characters, from the defeated Confederate soldier in “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” to the tough union worker of “King Harvest Has Surely Come” to the shady creatures in “Life Is a Carnival.”
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An earlier version of this obituary misstated the name of Mr. Robertson’s first band. It was Little Caesar and the Consuls, not Little Ceasar and the Consults.
An earlier version of this obituary misstated the location of the house, later known as Big Pink, where the members of the Band moved in 1967. It is in Saugerties, N.Y., not Woodstock. The earlier version also misstated the name of a public television series for which Mr. Robertson was interviewed in 1995. It was “Rock & Roll” — not “Shakespeares in the Alley,” which was an episode of that series. And it misstated the release dates of the Band’s albums “Stage Fright” and “Cahoots.” They were released in 1970 and 1971, not 1971 and 1972.
An earlier version of this obituary, using information from a spokeswoman, misstated part of Mr. Robertson’s birth name. He was born Jaime Royal Robertson, not Jamie.
When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at [email protected].Learn more
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