Robbie Robertson Discography

• 
  Music For The Native Americans

Related Artists

Songs By

Jim Wilson

Member Of

The Band

Influenced By

Bob Dylan :: Van Morrison :: Chuck Berry

Followers

Rivermen :: Cordelia`s Dad :: Domenic Troiano :: Freddy Trujillo :: Leah Wolfsong :: Michael Kroll :: Deadman

Similar Artists

The Hawks :: Latin Playboys :: Joe Ely :: Grateful Dead :: Los Lobos :: Dire Straits :: The Neville Brothers :: Joni Mitchell :: Peter Gabriel :: Sheryl Crow :: Jerry Garcia :: Neil Young :: Mitchell Froom :: Dr. John :: T-Bone :: James McMurtry :: Richard Thompson :: Ronnie Hawkins :: Counting Crows :: Ulali

See also Biography Index (R) :: Filmography Index (R) :: Discography Index (R)

Robbie Robertson (born Jaime Robert Klegerman, 5 July 1943 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership in The Band. He was ranked 78th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
Born to a Jewish father and a Mohawk mother, (he took his stepfather’s last name after his mother remarried), Robertson’s earliest exposure to music was at Six Nations 40, Ontario, where he spent summers with his mother’s family. He studied guitar from his youth and was writing songs and performing from his teen years.
By 1958, Robertson was performing in various groups around Toronto. In 1960, he met singer Ronnie Hawkins, who headed up a band called The Hawks (after relocating to Canada), and joined the group, which toured often, before splitting from Hawkins in 1963.
The quintet styled themselves as The Canadian Esquires and Levon and the Hawks,(after rejecting such tongue-in-cheek names as The Honkies and The Crackers), before ultimately calling themselves The Band.
Bob Dylan hired The Band for his famed, controversial tours of 1965 and 1966, his first wide exposure as an electrified rock and roll performer rather than his earlier acoustic folk sound. Robertson’s distinctive guitar sound was an important part of the music; Dylan famously praised him as “the only mathematical guitar genius I’ve ever run into who doesn’t offend my intestinal nervousness with his rearguard sound.”
From 1987 onwards, Robertson released a series of four solo albums, his first was self titled followed by Storyville, Music for the Native Americans, and Contact from the Underworld of Redboy. In 1990, he contributed to Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto`s album Beauty. Robertson`s song "Broken Arrow", off the Robbie Robertson album, was covered by Rod Stewart on his album Vagabond Heart and became a hit single. "Broken Arrow" was also a part of the Grateful Dead`s rotation of live songs 1993-95 (sung by bassist Phil Lesh), and later with Phil Lesh and Friends. The song "Somewhere Down the Crazy River", became Robertson`s biggest solo hit, charting in the UK and Canada.
In 1994, Robertson returned to his roots, teaming with the Native American group the Red Road Ensemble for Music for The Native Americans, a collection of songs composed for a television documentary series.
Also in 1994, Robertson joined Garth Hudson and Rick Danko onstage to perform "The Weight" when The Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Levon Helm, who had a falling-out with Robertson after The Band broke up, did not attend.
According to an article in the February 9, 2008 edition of the Winnipeg Sun, Robertson is said to be working with Eric Clapton on an album of new material.