"The Last Waltz" 50 Years Later

Former Tallassee Tribune columnist Willie G. Moseley once opined that the second LP by The Band, often referred to as the Brown Album, was the “greatest album of American music” ever made. Certainly, it is wonderful, and it’s by far the best American record ever produced by four Canadians and a guy from Arkansas. It came out during the fall of 1969 and sounded like nothing else.

The Band were mythical nearly from the beginning. After years of honing their skills as a tight backing band playing basic rock ‘n’ roll behind Ronnie Hawkins, they were plucked from obscurity to back Bob Dylan when he decided to go electric. They seemed to emerge fully formed, able to read Dylan’s mind and follow his experimentalist muse while retaining their ability to play some of the liveliest rock ever performed.

When Dylan disappeared from the scene after a motorcycle accident, he spent the better part of a year recuperating in upstate New York. The guys who would become known as The Band rented a house they affectionately called Big Pink and began writing and recording their own material for the first time. Having been a mostly electric boogie, rhythm and blues-styled outfit, no one could have imagined the soulful, heartfelt stories and songs that would pour out of these guys, who all also happened to be multi-instrumentalists.

Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, and Garth Hudson released MUSIC FROM BIG PINK in late 1968, which was a complete rejection of the psychedelia in vogue during that era as it featured homespun tales of life in the 1800s. They followed that album up with the aforementioned brown album simply titled THE BAND, and it’s one classic after another: “Rag Mama Rag,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “King Harvest (Has Surely Come),” “Up on Cripple Creek” – plus a half-dozen others that may not be as well-known but are just as good.

Rock writer Greil Marcus wrote that the Band was “committed to the very idea of America: complicated, dangerous, and alive. Their music gave us a sure sense that the country was richer than we had guessed; that it has possibilities we were only beginning to perceive.”

50 years ago this month, The Band decided to hang it up after sixteen years on the road. The music from these first two albums played a huge role in their success, but as they kept going nin the ‘70s they were always certain to point back to their influences, crediting the people who taught and inspired them in the first place. So, as The Band prepared for its final gig in November 1976, they invited everyone who was anyone in the music world to be there.

Martin Scorcese, riding high as a film director known for “Taxi Driver” and “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” was selected as the director of the filmed concert, soon to be known as “The Last Waltz.” The date was set for Thanksgiving Day 1976. A turkey dinner with all the fixings was prepared for the audience, and beyond the food, the feast continued for the ears as one legendary musician after another joined The Band on stage to perform. There’s Ronnie Hawkins, the man who gave them their start, and Bob Dylan, who turned them into legends. Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond, and Muddy Waters are there, too. There are performances by The Staple Singers, Emmylou Harris, Paul Butterfield, Dr. John, Bobby Charles, and to prove how big of a deal this was, Ron Wood from the Rolling Stones and Ringo Starr from The Beatles also sit in.

The film and soundtrack are so incredibly good, I have probably listened and watched dozens of times and never get tired of it. The Band ended their career with a love letter to the very music they’d enjoyed making for so long.

November days can sometimes be overcast, cloudy, and windy. When you get the chance, put on a record by The Band – or stream “The Last Waltz,” available on Amazon Prime or Tubi.  Willie G. Moseley was right about them: for four Canadians and a guy from Arkansas, they are responsible for the best American music ever made.

Michael Bird is an assistant professor of music at Faulkner University.