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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.
Robbie Robertson in performance with the Band in 1971. The group, for which he was the main songwriter and lead guitarist, helped inspire the Americana genre.Credit...Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns

Robbie Robertson in performance with the Band in 1971. The group, for which he was the main songwriter and lead guitarist, helped inspire the Americana genre.Credit...Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns

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.”

The music he matched to his passionate yarns mined the roots of every essential American genre, including folk, country, blues and gospel. Yet when his history-minded compositions first appeared on albums by the Band in the late 1960s, they felt vital as well as vintage.

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Author: Editors Desk

Source: N.Y Times

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