Robbie Robertson at Six Nations
On October 15, 2017, at the kind invitation of Tim Johnson, Randy was privileged to speak at the Six Nations of the Grand River in Canada. He presented a testimonial to Robbie Robertson - Songwriter, Storyteller, Author, Film Score Producer and leader of THE BAND. Mr. Robertson was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at Six Nations, where he spent part of his childhood and learned to play guitar. Randy also joined many other fine Native musicians in performing 'The Weight', by Robbie Robertson, to end the program.
Written and delivered on October 14, 2017 at the awarding of the Six Nations Lifetime Achievement Award to Robbie Robertson.
R. Andropolis
I have to begin with a caveat, in case I begin tripping over my own tongue. I was delighted when Tim Johnson asked me to speak on this occasion. Delighted and terrified, actually. Robbie Robertson has been my unmitigated musical hero since I was 16. I’m now 65. I’m just telling you folks that so you don’t think it’s some kind of gushing schoolboy crush. I mean, it’s been 50 years.
There’ve been many unexpected historic moments that changed music for all time: Paganini completed the first known pop-star rehab, took the stage with his violin and set a new bar. Louis Gottschalk took sounds he’d heard on Congo Square and injected American music with a groove. Jelly Roll Morton bumped heads with other giants in Storyville, creating New Orleans Jazz. Paul Whiteman announced Gershwin would write a Jazz Symphony which Gershwin knew nothing about and panicked, creating Rhapsody in Blue. John Hammond hired Benny Goodman to make an album of Black Jazz, starting a chain reaction that broke down racial barriers in recording. Muddy Waters left the Delta, headed to Chicago, plugged in and electrified the Blues. And The Band released Music From Big Pink in ’68.
Big Pink. It changed everything. It brought music back to earth. At first, it was like “What the hell was that?” Then we started to pick up on the subtleties, the texture, the tales. Soon, we weren’t listening to much else, nor was the rest of the Music world, whether nobility or plebian. We all bowed, whether Eric Clapton, George Harrison or Joe Shmoe down at the corner bar. We learned guitarists didn’t have to always play blistering leads– Robbie Robertson showed that being spare could be emotionally moving. It was quiet. And time changes in Rock and Roll? Robbie Robertson was introduced as a musical force. The Band found a place in music history with their very first independent steps.
Expected concerts from The Band didn’t come. Instead, a bit over a year later, The Band’s self-titled second album appeared. This time we weren’t just astonished … we were overcome. For one thing, we learned you could actually have bass on a record. But the most important thing was that the songwriting was so rich and so evocative that it gave us pause – we’d never heard anything like it before. That’s Robbie Robertson.
A couple years later, I picked up a bootleg copy of Bob Dylan’s supposed 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert with the Band. It was nothing short of amazing. This was the act that got booed off every stage? Every other group in ‘66 sounded like transistorized garage amateurs compared to The Band with Dylan. On that tour, The Band created a massive electrically charged orchestral storm. Those Canadian boys again. And when they went back on the road with Dylan in ’74 – man, I thought the roof of Maple Leaf Garden was going to come off.
There was more from The Band in the next few years. We were never disappointed. The stories and shades of sound just poured from every album. We never cared what critics said. The Press had labeled The Band’s music as ‘Americana’. Time magazine called it ‘Country Rock’. I wasn’t sure how either label really fit the broad scope of their work. However, by the time ‘Stage Fright’ and ‘Cahoots’ came out, we put a finger on something else about Robbie’s songwriting we hadn’t realized before.
From the early days until now, songs of Robbie Robertson are ‘different’, with a capital D. In his songs, you absorb the warmth of the sun, smell the fields, hear crickets chirp, feel the breeze caress your face, feel wind and rain lash against your skin, feel the soil under bare feet, scrape your hands on the bark of trees. The land, river, trail or streetscape is part of the story. We may not have known he was Native back then, but his music told the tale. The songs breathed. You didn’t just hear heartbreak or joy – you felt it. He became our storyteller, our shaman, our soothsayer.
As for the Band’s music - there’s simply not time to discuss it all. Nor should we. It’s for listening. Seriously. Go listen to it, and to Robbie’s solo work. None of it’s aged. It’s still relevant. Read his book ‘Testimony’. And if you never heard The Band play live, you missed one of the great musical pleasures of the century.
In 1976, The Band said goodbye to touring. Martin Scorsese filmed it as the quintessential Rock Music film ‘The Last Waltz’. Pretty much all of rock royalty appears in the film – Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Eric Clapton and many others. But what strikes me most about the ‘Last Waltz’ is twofold. Firstly, these weren’t just celebrities – they were the top songwriters of a generation. Secondly, Robbie and the Band showed us they could play anything. They were such formidable musicians that if they’d wanted, they could have left the Wrecking Crew in the dust. Anyway, within a few years of the film’s release, members of The Band were back at it on the road. But not Robbie. He kept his word then, and to my knowledge, still has.
We waited ten years to hear from him again. Meanwhile, there was his film work. Carny. Raging Bull. The King of Comedy. The Color of Money. That last one: from the whistling at the opening to the end, just pure Robertson – driving, gritty and provocative. Robbie’s music becomes a character in the films he’s involved with.
In ‘87, thunder struck with the release of the album ‘Robbie Robertson’ - a total change from the sound of The Band, but the writing and recording were simply breathtaking. And something more. Robbie was no longer personal about being Native. Videos for ‘Fallen Angel’ and ‘Showdown at Big Sky’ came right out and said “I’m an Indian, and proud of it”. From then until now, his ambient soundscapes are just incredible. There are always sounds we’ve never heard before and we continue to be surprised. Robbie’s next album, ‘Storyville’, was released in ‘91 - a collection of songs fixated on New Orleans and The South that was so much a part of his musical inspiration.
In ‘94, Robbie released ‘Music for the Native Americans’, music inspired by his heritage. Rita Coolidge, Ulali and Pura Fe appear, as do other Native musicians, including a couple of other Robertsons. We’d heard the work of John Trudell and Jesse Ed earlier, but Robbie’s historic recording took us much farther down that road. The next album, in ‘98, was also Native-centered. ‘Contact from the Underworld of Redboy’, used programming, techno-beats and electronic ambience that could make Brian Eno swoon. It also included some folks sitting in this room today. Both albums were strongly infused with a sense of Native spirituality. And on Redboy, we got Leonard Peltier telling his own story for the first time. That’s some kind of statement.
There were other films. ‘Any Given Sunday’ stands out – a football movie by Oliver Stone that used much of Robbie’s Native music. I mean, Pro footballers battling on the gridiron underscored by ‘Ghost Dance’? Who would have thought? But it works, and it’s awe-inspiring. Then there’s all the work with Martin Scorsese on some of the biggest films of two centuries. Gangs of New York. The Departed. Shutter Island. The Wolf of Wall Street. And besides blockbusters, there are many lesser known films that took on Native perspectives.
Robbie’s most recent album is ‘How to Become Clairvoyant’, a textural journey into reflection. Just beautiful music. Surprising us as always, he even picks up a classical guitar to solo. He’s got Robert Randolf playing steel guitar and Eric Claption along for most of the ride. I hope Mr. Clapton is happy. He wanted in on The Band from day one.
Now, anyone that’s ever been in a band knows it’s not all peaches and cream. The audience just sees the vision of solidarity before them … but a band can be like a marriage with multiple partners. There are personal differences, musical differences, political differences, philosophical differences and perhaps most importantly, differences in work ethic.
The Band experienced some controversy much later, but Robbie never became publicly defensive or contentious and never wavered from avoiding bickering or from being a perfect gentleman. The most balanced take on it appeared in print, not from him, but from his daughter Alexandra. As in his work with Jesse Winchester earlier and his later retelling of Hiawatha and the Peacemaker, Robbie seemed to embody the spirit of the Haudenosaunee - a spirit of reconciliation.
Finally, Robbie’s influence? Too huge to define. Too deep a river to wade. But, in a nutshell, I can tell you where to begin. The Beatles made the dubious decision to film themselves making an album called ‘Let it Be’. Sadly, all those differences and tensions between band members come screaming across. Our wish to be a fly on the wall backfired. But here’s something not well known. There was a photo book that came with the deluxe album, which also contained dialogue from the film. In one scene, Paul McCartney is introducing one of his songs to the other Beatles and says “You have to pretend to be The Band on this one.” John Lennon just peers back at him over his glasses and replies “I have been on all of them”. Influence?
The evening after Tim phoned, my wife and I were sitting on the front porch. I said “I’m glad Tim asked me to speak, because if I just had to meet Robbie, I wouldn’t know what to say.” I’ll close now with her reply, because it reflects what many people both here and around the world feel. Her few words are so much more eloquent than all of mine today. Betty said “I’d just tell him ‘Thank you for providing the soundtrack for my life’.”
Robbie Robertson.
Robbie Robertson was also a major participant in the award winning film "Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World". Randy moderated a post-screening discussion with Director Catherine Bainbridge and Executive Producers Tim Johnson and Christina Fon on September 8th and 10th, 2017. "Rumble" was awarded for Masterful Storytelling at the Sundance Film Festival and took first honors at Hot Docs. The discussion was held at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in St. Catharines, Ontario.
In 2024, on the first anniversary of his death, I was again asked by Tim Johnson to come to Six Nations and give a memorial address. All of Robbie’s Children - Alexandra, Delphine and Sebastian were there, with their families. Robbie had asked that in lieu of other memorial tributes, donations should be made to the Six Nation’s Woodland Cultural Center. Below are my comments that evening.
Good evening. My name is Randy, and I teach Music Histories at Niagara University in the U.S. When I assign my students their term papers about an artist or genre of music, I admonish them to be objective and not to just write ‘fan letters’. I’m afraid that tonight, I will be guilty of that same sin myself.
Nearly seven years ago, I stood on this stage and spoke about the remarkable musical career and achievements of Robbie Robertson. Like today, Tim Johnson had approached me to offer remarks, and I was extremely honoured. The difference that day was that Robbie was sitting right there, in the first row, with his daughter Delphine and his right-hand Jared Levine, listening to this little old stranger talk about him. Now, Robbie was, and is, my lifetime musical hero, but it was like standing in front of Thomas Edison and trying to tell him about his own inventions – scary! I was very anxious, hoping not to say anything that wasn’t accurate or appropriate. But at the end, as I left the stage, Mr. Robertson stood up from his chair, walked over and shook my hand. It was an affirmation I’ll never forget. Later, then Chief Ava Hill told me that Robbie had whispered to her a couple times during my talk, pleased with what I’d said. For that, I’m eternally grateful.
As you all know, we sadly lost Robbie last August. Tonight, we celebrate his legacy, but also his memory. One lifelong friend of his described his passing as leaving ‘a vacancy in the world’. At first, those words seemed trite, but the more I thought about it, that word ‘vacancy’ said everything. No musical artist of any kind had more impact than Robbie Robertson during the creative explosion of the late 60s, 70s, or, though not as obvious, in the decades since. The vacancy he left won’t be easily filled, if it can be truly filled at all. There wasn’t any type of music or group that was untouched by Robbie’s and The Band’s influence. I was fortunate to see The Band perform four times – twice in Toronto, which was a true homecoming. Later, after their Last Waltz, The Band regrouped without Robbie. My wife and I saw them without him in St. Catharines. The instrumentalists were still there. The vocalists were still there. The songs were still Robbie’s … but the vitality and musical promise had slipped away.
When I spoke here the day of the Lifetime Achievement Award, I related the contributions of The Band, led by Robbie – how they were able to rise above the psychedelic nonsense that was so pervasive at the time, past all those hippies running around thinking they were dressed as Indians and about how The Band re-grounded music … brought it back to earth. It's hard to explain what that means, but let me show you two pictures from the late 60s that may help.
Besides giving us songs of depth, emotion and intelligence, Robbie & The Band incorporated many different sounds and musical approaches. They are often described as being ‘organic’, compared to those around them, but their records contained some of the most creative uses of electronics and synthesizer, shortly after it was born. Before The Band, with Robbie at the helm, there weren’t time changes in Rock & Roll songs, nor could we hear the bass clearly, and in a place of its own. With Mr. Robertson behind the mixing desk, that all changed for the better, and for everyone in the music world - an influence almost without precedent.
Robbie has been named one of the hundred greatest guitarists of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. The number of his ranking keeps changing, so I’m not quite sure what that really means. What I do know is that like jazz greats Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and Blues Artists like B.B. King and Eric Clapton, the guitar work of Robbie Robertson is instantly recognizable. No one else sounded like him. Ever.
One of his greatest accomplishments was his extraordinary lyricism. Not only could he compose popular song lyrics - the bread and butter of every songwriter - but he had the uncanny ability to write history from a human perspective. Songs like King Harvest, Acadian Driftwood, Bessie Smith and Knockin’ Lost John all treat history as a living subject and explore the human cost of being part of the time in question. He could and did, of course, weigh the terrible weight of affliction perpetrated on First Nations and spoke it plainly to the listening public. When The Band was a current force in music and before his solo career, that public never really knew anything about Robbie’s heritage. The first inkling I ever had was in a song from the Band’s ‘Cahoots’ album. It’s called ‘Smoke Signal’, and the lyric begins “Went to a movie matinee to watch the Bluecoats try to get away from a Smoke Signal”. It was pretty obvious which side he’d choose if the neighborhood kids played Cowboys & Indians. And, as I said last time, the way he described the natural world, its sounds, sights and feel in his songs, could only have come from someone who knew well that human beings are part of nature, not masters of it. In Robbie’s ability to write lyrics of many kinds and in his often humorous and atypical wordplay, we find a songwriter every bit as prolific, universal and expressive as that longtime friend of his I mentioned earlier – you know, Bob. The poetic legacy of Robbie Robertson will endure long into the future. I’d like to share some lyrics of Robbie Robertson briefly. Some of you know them well already, since you participated with him in actually recording them.
When Robbie began to address his Native heritage in his music, it was different from the way previous indigenous musicians had, and he set upon an entirely new path. Great as they are, the recordings of John Trudell and other early pioneers are based on activism - far more confrontational of political and humanitarian issues. Granted, this was and is important, but Robbie’s approach was to return to the history, heritage, culture and spirituality of his people. And he brought all those other artists along with him. One of his greatest accomplishments in helping re-establish Native Music was his ability to channel anger and frustration felt against Oppressors into a positive, purposeful, and productive message that could be acted upon.
In every bit of music he created, Robbie had the uncanny ability to change the ordinary into the remarkable. If someone asked my most memorable moment from the Lifetime Achievement Award, you’d think I’d say ‘meeting Robbie’. But that wouldn’t be true. The late Mark LaForge sang a song by Robbie and Richard Manuel that day – a song called Whispering Pines – and performed it beautifully. Mark and I talked about it behind the Gathering Place later – Robbie, sitting in his front row seat, actually sang harmony along with Mark without a microphone. Only those of us in front could hear it. It was evocative, poignant, and totally unexpected. It was the last time I’d ever hear Robbie Robertson perform live, and it was the most stirring ever.
In conclusion, I’m going to digress briefly. In the summer of 1970, I was on my first summer break from college. My best friend from High School, a native kid named Ted Froman, invited me to play at a dance here at Six Nations. We piled into his mom’s station wagon and made the drive up from Niagara Falls, New York, instruments in the back. They weren’t rich folks, and the car wasn’t the sleekest. Actually, it was a prototype for the Flintstones’ – you know the car without a floor where Fred and Barney used their feet? Anyway, on the long ride up here, his mom Mabel asked me what sort of music I was into, and I told her that I’d been studying Bach, Chopin and the like. She said, ‘No, what kind of people music?’ So, I told her I was really into a group that had been out for a couple of years called ‘The Band’. She said ‘Oh yeah, them Canadian boys. One of them is from the Res. I think I might know some of his people’. My reaction, kept to myself was ‘yeah, right, Mabel.’ I had no way of knowing.
Anyway, as we pulled into Six Nations, I was immediately struck by the difference from the world I came from. There was no sleek infrastructure, and it was obvious that people living here were struggling. It was a rude awakening – something I’d never experienced before. Well, we arrived, unpacked our gear, set up and started to play. According to Ava Hill, it was most likely in the Community Hall located in the Village - a big ramshackle rustic wooden building with a porch and wooden stage that had seen better days. I was one of only two non-Natives there that evening, also a new experience for me, but the thing that impressed me most was the sense of community. Despite the people having very little, they were sharing, kind and welcoming. It was a wonderful time, and I couldn’t help thinking how great it’d be if there had been a nicer place to play. And now, over fifty years later, that’s why we’re all here tonight – because Robbie Robertson saw the need for such a performance space at Six Nations and took the initiative to do something about it. Things are far, far better here than the first time I visited, but much still needs to be done raising the people up to where they belong in the national consciousness. Extraordinary strides have been made, but non-natives mustn’t be allowed continued ignorance. Arguably, the greatest missed opportunity in history was colonists dismissing the vibrant living culture they encountered, so Robbie’s vision is of tantamount importance. He excelled in every role he took on – that of Guitarist, Bandleader, Songwriter, Engineer, Producer, Actor, Composer, Film Music Supervisor, Documentary Narrator, Best Selling Author and Indigenous Advocate. One of these great man’s final wishes was that Six Nations’ Woodland Cultural Center would expand to reflect the richness and vibrancy of the culture surrounding it. I beg you all to consider that as you leave here tonight and besides his musical genius, remember the thoughtfulness, integrity and heartfelt love felt for this Reserve and its people by Robbie Robertson.