Music Biz Story Time: Garth Hudson, The Last Waltz, Chaos, & Me!
BY: Graham Alexander
I do hope if you’re reading this….you’ll read the whole thing…I think the context is important but I’ve separated it into two parts in case you’re one of those humans that doesn’t have the time… (but let’s face it, you’re probably on pandemic lockdown right now….you HAVE the time….and it is worth the read! promise!)
Some of you reading this were there…and for those of us that weren’t fortunate enough to witness the transformation of popular music in real-time…let me frame this situation…and simultaneously pay some amount of honor to our special guest of this article/recording);
(BACKGROUND)
Bob Dylan & The Band in 1966.
The year is 1966…and a singer/songwriter - an unwitting poet laureate - Bob Dylan - is well into teaching a new generation of popular musicians and music fans how to write the kind of music that doesn’t just generate a good time - but that, in many cases, expands the entire way people listen to music…it changes what the average person expects from a song. This process had started many years before in popular music…in 1940….when Woody Guthrie challenged Victor Records in Camden, NJ to record his music of protest and social awareness. Victor accepted the challenge, and the overtly political recording artist was born. Bob Dylan was widely seen as his successor in this manner - as early as 1963 - with his earlier releases of songs like ’The Times They Are A-Changin’, ‘Master’s Of War’, ‘Blowing In The Wind’; Dylan was widely seen to the folk music community as the next voice of the people. By 1965, Dylan was young - and he had expressed interest in the exploding pop music scene - which by this era was largely dominated by The Beatles (and accompanying British Invasion Acts). Dylan’s desire to reach young people outside of the relatively small sphere of college-aged and older folkies was growing rampant - and his first cross-over attempts to electrify his songwriting brought forth the now legendary single ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ (predating the electric British blues boom by some years). While Dylan’s influence and loyalty in the highly cliquish folk world became questioned after polarizing electrified performances at normally well-received folk festival gigs that year - Dylan found the controversy amusing - and doubled down; his next album would be even MORE electric - louder; harder, and more -blues centric- than a ‘folk’ musician had ever been. This album, Highway 61 Revisited, would (along with its predecessors ‘Bringing It All Back Home’, ‘The Free Wheelin’ Bob Dylan’ etc) would begin to covertly reshape how ALL pop songwriting was being approached by the mid-1960s. The transformation and influence is evident in the expansion of more critical, experimental, and often surreal songwriting of Lennon, McCartney, Jagger, Richards, John Sebastian - and later Bruce Springsteen, Cat Stevens, Clapton, John Denver - even the great songwriters of the 1970s; Carol King, Carly Simon, James Taylor - could all feel direct influence and/or (at the very least) newfound freedom to bring the craftsmanship of songwriting - to the realm of popular music in a way that hadn’t been done for the genre we now know as ‘rock ’n’ roll’. These events would go on to shape and mold popular music as we know it- and all singer/songwriters benefited from these brave steps forward. The change wasn’t over though.
Bob Dylan & Garth Hudson in 1968
In 1965, Garth Hudson was a bright-eyed 28-year-old professional organist that had been playing for several years as a member of The Hawks - a Canadian based rock/blues/r&b group consisting of bandmates Rick Danko (Bass), Robbie Robertson (Guitar), Levon Helm (Drums), and Richard Manuel (Piano). It was during this year through a mutual friend that Garth (and several members of The Hawks) would soon become the live and studio band of Bob Dylan - helping the artist transform fully from his folk era, to the Bob Dylan we know today. With appearances on Dylan’s first fully electric tours (which would be documented in a now-infamous scene depicting a hard-edged performance of ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ in the UK)- Garth himself would also appear on the recorded versions of; ‘Please Can You Crawl Out Your Window’, ‘One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later), Temporary Like Achilles (as well as several bonus tracks recorded during the late ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ and ‘Blonde On Blonde’ era) - and later; Bob Dylan’s 1966 Live Album released by LEGACY records in 2016.
The name ‘The Hawks’ had to go….and as a nod to their billing as ‘Bob Dylan & The Band….’…..the group rechristened themselves; ’The Band’.
Garth himself would go on to contribute endless push towards the vast influence of The Band, and Bob Dylan’s career as they weaved in and out of each-other - The Band’s debut album ‘Music From Big Pink’ (a reference to the house where the famous ‘Basement Tapes’ were recorded with Dylan) was released to great acclaim in 1968- and The Band went on a whirlwind of music-making from ‘The Weight’, ‘This Wheel’s On Fire’, ‘Chest Fever’, ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’, ‘The Shape I’m In’ over the next several years- to bouncing back and forth supporting Dylan’s ‘Quinn The Mighty Eskimo’, ‘You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere’, ‘Tears Of Rage’. Garth was the primary recording engineer and sole organist of ‘The Basement Tapes’ - Garth was also a pioneer in literal sounds on recordings ‘Up On Cripple Creek’ is the first record to feature his clavinet played through a ‘wah-wah’ effects pedal - a sound that influenced Stevie Wonder several years later in songs like ‘Superstition’, and ’Tell Me Something Good’. Later Garth played on Dylan & The Bands’ ‘Planet Waves’ album (featuring tracks like ‘Forever Young’) and he and the group toured with Dylan to support the album. By the mid-1970s, The Band was growing tired of non-stop touring - and planned (and successfully executed) ‘The Last Waltz’ - a concert/documentary film widely cited as one of the greatest Rock ’n’ roll pieces of filmmaking - directed by the relative newcomer; Martin Scorsese. Several years later, The Band would reform and continue to release widely lauded albums - including one of their better-known radio hits, ‘Atlantic City’ (written by Springsteen).
Bob Dylan & The Band in 1969
Many people (even those that were there) don’t know how much Bob Dylan & The Band meant to the popular musicians of the time - particularly to groups like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones etc. While Dylan certainly never sold nearly as many records as the aforementioned groups…he could be credited with the combined influence of a generation….responsible for *at least some* credit for almost every major rock/pop record made after 1964. Don’t believe me? When Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (itself dripping with a surrealism that ‘Blonde On Blonde’s ‘Rainy Day Women’ helped set the mood for) gave birth to the kind of commercialization of psychedelia that ‘The 5th Dimension’, or ‘The Four Seasons’ tried like mad to cash in on….it was Bob Dylan & The Band that signaled the new direction; that direction was a back to roots music concept that largely rejected the overly lush orchestras, mantras, gurus, overproduction, and sitars of 1967 - and birthed the kind of influence that gave us the sparseness beauty of The Beatles’ White Album (and the single ‘Hey Jude’…in which you can hear Paul McCartney sing ‘Take A Load Off Annie- Put The Load On Me in the live vocal performance at the end of 68’s David Frost Performance), The Stones’ Beggar’s Banquet, Big Brother & Holding Company’s ‘Cheap Thrills’, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, and even the ‘Elvis 1968!’ Comeback Special - yes; if 1966 is a high point of rock ’n’ roll as it was, 1968 declared what it was going to be - and The Band & Bob Dylan were part of the undercurrent led that charge - the signal that popular music was not a straight line of progress; remaining ahead of the curve was a process of having ones finger on the pulse of the population and their thoughts and feelings…ideally WELL before the change came and you were standing at the Grammy’s in 1968 accepting the award for ‘Up, Up, & Away’ by The 5th Dimension while a bunch of guys in suits clap and pretend they ever truly understood ‘psychedelic music’.
(FOREGROUND…IN THE MODERN ERA AS IT PERTAINS TO US…AS A CONTINUATION OF THE ABOVE etc.)
OK; so maybe I’m going on and on with background - but you have to remember….not everyone reading really takes in *how cool* Garth Hudson REALLY is. Now that you have, let me get back to the bulk of this story. When ‘Graham Alexander & Co.’ as an entity set about reforming the Victor Talking Machine Co. - we had a few goals in mind; 1. was to change the music industry 2. was to build a platform for artists/musicians for the future 3. was to create an ecosystem that benefited musicians in which Victor would find artists, record their music at our studio, press their records/distribute digitally, and build the Victor Victrola/Home Audio products - in America - allowing us to empower musicians that we really love to create music …and profit from that art created. We fully understood that through the golden era of recorded music - the music industry was a system of commerce that helped fund the creation of an incalculable amount of music…music that has touched our hearts and lives every day….and we felt VERY MUCH that not only had that particular mechanism in the music industry collapsed…..but that we were already bearing witness to the casualties of it….in our own lives. A close example of this is my father, an incredible bass player/vocalist/singer-songwriter that spent many years traversing a HEALTHY industry…when that industry began to collapse in the 1990s….you can imagine what happened next. Poverty has become an almost inseparable part of being a musician in the modern age - and The Victor Co. set about uniting musicians and music makers- and music fans - to change this trajectory. One of our loves in music - has also been a bonded love of music history - and since The Victor Co. is so incredibly steeped in music history - we opened a venue and company archive to keep our master recordings and to act as an educational marketing facility…alongside its use as a listening room for our artists at Victor Records. The Victor Vault is a beautiful venue (if I do say so myself) - the Victor team is constantly up keeping the venue during these times - this story is one of my favorites I can recall. Not unlike ‘The Hawks’ purpose of backing up Bob Dylan - ‘The Co.’ of Graham Alexander & Co. has consisted of a cast of characters that many of you are probably familiar with if you are a part of our community - sometimes this group is known as ‘The Victor Co. Players’; which is tasked with ‘original’ programming at The Victor Vault….meaning…..classic album shows, original artist’s backup bands - and just occasionally; we get the opportunity to become the band of a legend. Now, I don’t know the exact date…but…. Victor’s Administrator, EllenJoy had organized a performance with Garth Hudson on organ - and his lovely wife, Sister Maud - singing. We cast the show many months in advance - agreed on the date, set the times, booked the hotels…the whole nine yards. Eventually, our recording dept. head at Victor Studio (Randy Weaver) would head up to gather Garth and his belongings at his home in Woodstock, NY (a 3+ hour drive from the Victor Camden Plant/Victor Vault). We had prepared a setlist of 5 songs that The Victor Co. players/Graham Alexander & Co. would perform with Garth & Sister Maud; The Weight, The Shape I’m In, We Shall Be Released, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. We were excited - I certainly had always been a Dylan admirer - but - I wasn’t as knowing of The Band as a solo entity (I DID know well The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, The Weight, and Baby Let Me Follow You Down *a song I had done a version of for a Japanese bonus track edition of my first album, ‘Graham Alexander’.) We had on the cast that night Dustin Napoli (Keys/Piano), Zach Harski (Guitar/Vocal), Keith Hohing (Drums), and myself on bass/vocal - essentially playing the late Rick Danko’s parts. Garth Hudson would be on organ - and Sister Maud would be the lead vocalist of the evening (Special thanks to Jim Verdeur, Bob Wagner for their horn supplements as well). Garth and Maude were also set to perform a number of songs by themselves (something we’d done before with Simon Kirke of Bad Company, Neil Innes of Monty Python, Laurence Juber of Wings - ETC ETC.)….not a big deal for us to be a minimally invasive part of the show…its the headliner’s show.
Confident Graham
So, we get together and rehearse - ya know…so it can be…good…and we run through the list at our rehearsal facility the few days before the show. The show is, to our surprise - sold out. Fans of The Band are really happy to see Garth out and about (and Maud) - and he doesn’t play too many shows these days…preferring to take it easy (after all, he has earned it). None the less, he granted his audience a show that was - fairly local (compared to flying out to say…Los Angeles)….and he was a fan of Victor Records (Victor Records being the original home of Fats Waller, one of his greatest organ playing idols - and along with Garth…one of the most influential organ players in popular music …of all time)…Garth was excited to come visit us at Victor - and EllenJoy had arranged also for him to travel to John Wanamaker’s Department Store across the river in Philadelphia to see the famous ‘Wanamaker Organ’ after the show.
The morning of the show arrives - nothing has changed except some minor timing hiccups in logistics….until….my blood suddenly runs cold.
First let me say; I have played for …some of the most discerning & (sometimes) harshest critics in the world - New York Times, Billboard Magazine, LA Times, Chicago Tribune - i’ve had the honor of playing on some of the greatest stages…Broadway Theatres, Carnegie Hall, Red Rocks Amphitheater….hundreds of arenas and theaters around the globe…you name it…and I’ve had the luck of playing there in some capacity through the last many years of my career. LITTLE DID I KNOW; the most scared I would ever be on any stage would be The 120 person capacity Victor Vault….that night.
A dramatic re-enactment of my face upon realizing the show must go on…
The news is in; Garth Hudson will be coming alone to the show - Sister Maud is feeling under the weather.
Now, I wasn’t a great test taker in school - but I found that musically…I do LOVE preparing; we rehearse often — we don’t stop, really. I never felt the kind of cold sweat that I felt the moment that this (very unfortunate moment) was announced….because I understood what this meant; I was going to have to learn no less than 10+ songs in the span of a few hours - many of which - I had never sung (or barely heard prior)….and to which I had learned the BASS for - but had never even attempted to vocalize on. Keep in mind; I wasn’t the singer on the show. A nightmare scenario unraveled in my head; a room FULL of The Band superfans RIOTING …THROWING THINGS….DESTROYING THE VENUE ITSELF….ANGER…..TEARS OF RAGE (do you get the reference..its’s a The Band thing)….anyways; I sprang into action learning as many songs as had been sent on the original setlist - I had already learned them a Bass player….but now…i’d have to frontman…CONFIDENTLY….several songs that I really hadn’t even paid attention to VOCALLY….because I was too busy learning the bass.
Now, I’d have to sing AND play the bass - words, melodies, bass parts -
Me, considering running off into the woods.
It was 11 am now. I was at the office of Victor preparing to head over to The Victor Vault for rehearsal - and I was listening to the songs on non-stop repeat ….trying to create a system in which I could remember ….what felt like 1000s of words and melodies I’d never heard before. I remember being unable to grasp that ‘The Shape I’m In’ wasn’t ‘The Place I’m In’…THAT’S how dire this situation was. Its funny NOW….it wasn’t so funny THEN. I was about to be booed out of a venue the company FOUNDED.
I thought, you know what…it’ll be alright….Garth will get there early….we will rehearse a bit and I’ll feel better to do the show - approach with more confidence etc.
Oh no no, a major traffic jam prevented his timely arrival; it is now 7:10 PM and he arrives, keyboards in tow (and two techs to set them up)…when all is said and done; the doors of The Victor Vault open at 7:30….and eager faces pour in to see the man, the myth, the legend - Garth Hudson in one of the most intimate venues he has played in years.
Oh yea; AND THE GUY THATS THE FRONTMAN THAT DOESn’T KNOWw THE SONGss!!!111
hold on; catch my breath! I can do this - I’m a professional;
We write up a final setlist - and as it happens; I’ve always been a fan of Dylan & The Band’s ‘Forever Young’ from their 1973 LP Planet Waves - so it goes in, we ask Garth to include ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ (he hadn’t played it in that way SINCE The Dylan 1966 UK Tour…), and the rest of the songs filled out a show that…..by some ABSOLUTE MIRACLE wound up brimming with an excitement and fear in the players; the same kind of fear and pent up nervousness that made much of this music into beautiful records in the 1960s and 70s….and the rest was history. Garth Hudson was a gentleman, professional, and it was an absolute honor sharing a stage with him - and likewise hanging out with him for an extended period of time. Truly a living breathing treasure of American popular music.
It was all in a day’s work at Victor Talking Machine Co! (VictorRecords.com) If you LIKE what you’ve been hearing, seeing, feeling, and following from us - please do us a favor and support the birth of our new music industry …an industry by and for musicians….by heading to VictorRecords.com and picking up a new Victor Record player (Victor Victrola or Victor Home Audio Instrument), Victor Record (by one of our growing catalog of artists), or some Victor merch! Everything you contribute helps us in our mission -and it helps us to keep creating content like this!
