Garth Hudson, the last surviving member of the iconic rock group, The Band, has died. Keyboard player (notable for tickling the Lowrey organ quite a bit), horn player, composer and truly, to my mind, the glue that kept the band together, Hudson was 87. His might not be a household, but I assure you, this guy was a giant.
There is a very long history with The Band and Hudson, Bob Dylan, early rock and roll, playing with Ronnie Hawkins, etc. (look it up if you are of a mind.) But in Hudson we had one of the greats really. As far away from the typical rock star as you could get, pretty much mining that anti-rock band thing The Band did so well without even trying.
And we loved them for it.
As the story goes, Hudson was approached by Hawkins and drummer/vocalist/instrumentalist/songwriter Levon Helm to join Hawkins’ band the Hawks in the summer of 1961. Initially declining the offer, Hudson would come to accept, with two conditions: that Ronnie H. buy him that aforementioned Lowrey, and that he be paid an extra $10 a week by each Hawk’s band member in exchange for the music lessons he’d give them. This second condition was partly to justify Hudson joining the band to his parents.
They weren’t so keen on their son joining the band as they thought “jazz was evil,” as Hudson said. Not that the Hawks actually played jazz.
There are really too man fantastic Hudson moments to name, and you’d do well exploring his brilliantly complex solo album The Sea To The North. But for just two examples, check out Hudson slipping his clavinet though a wah-wah pedal on The Band’s classic “Up on Cripple Creek.” Or him playing on the Call’s first album and playing behind the band on their The Walls Came Down video.
Like I say, these are just two of many many examples.
RIP Garth Hudson.
