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The last ‘man’ from The Band has passed away--
The final remaining founder of the seminal group, Garth Hudson passed away at a Woodstock NY nursing home at the age of 87, confirmed by his friend and colleague, Jan Haust.
Beyond being the group’s organist, sax player, and often musical arranger, Hudson was also known for amassing various instruments and historical sheet music in multiple genres and was able to pick up almost any instrument with some level of expertise.
Additionally, he was the overseer of all the electronic and recording equipment in the famous pink ranch house in Saugerties, NY, where Bob Dylan and The Band recorded what would be known as The Basement Tapes, a prolific set of over 100 songs that would become iconic over the years. The Band’s singer and guitarist Robbie Robertson acknowledged Hudson as being “far and away the most advanced musician” not only in their group, but in rock n’ roll in general.
Canadian Eric Garth Hudson was born in Windsor, Ontario on August 2, 1937, the son of musically inclined parents, Fred and Olive, both active in their church, and a father who was a farmer turned World War I pilot as well.
Hudson would be classically trained, writing his first song at age eleven and playing with dance bands by the following year. Restless to break from the rigidity of classical, he dropped out of the University of Western Ontario, Hudson would join area group The Silhouettes (later Paul London and The Capers) eventually moving on to The Hawks, the backing band of Ronnie Hawkins which had already included fellow Canadians Robbie Robertson (guitar), Rick Danko (bass) and Richard Manuel (piano).and Arkansas drummer Levon Helm, completing the lineup of what would simply be soon called The Band.
The Hawks would leave their namesake leader in 1963 to tour on their own, and then were recruited to play with Bob Dylan, who tapped them as his backing group for his Blonde on Blonde record, and subsequent 1965 and 1966 (electric) folk rock tours.
Retreating to Woodstock and the pink house, the locals just knew them as “the band” which they decided to more formally adopt, they recorded their first album, “Music From Big Pink” which would be released in 1968. Songs like “The Weight,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and “Up on Cripple Creek” would eventually become Americana classics, all embellished by Hudson’s organ and little touches to make the sound bigger, and more unique.
Several albums would follow (as would internal strife, addictions, and typical group issues) and The Band would end its touring career with an all-star Thanksgiving 1976 concert in San Francisco that director Martin Scorsese documented to become perhaps the greatest concert film of all-time, The Last Waltz.
Hudson began session work after the group initially dissolved, guesting on albums and doing soundtrack work before the group reformed in 1983, but without Robertson, who was successfully launching his own solo career. Manuel would commit suicide in 1986, but The (reformed) Band continued into the 1990’s with its rotating members.
The Band was inducted into Canada’s Juno Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame five years later (plus a Lifetime Achievement Grammy for Hudson as shown above, in 2008), and Hudson remained on friendly terms with the others, guesting on their respective solo albums.
Hudson released his first solo album "The Sea to the North" on the dubious day of Sept 11, 2001, and was already in financial straits by then, even already having sold his stake in the famous group to Robertson, so was bound to continuing to tour and record for income.
Other minor groups and session work followed, even forming a 12-piece band with his wife, along with more career accolades, and his final public performance was last April at a small Kingston NY house concert, surprising those gathered to play a Duke Ellington cover.
With his wife passing in 2022, Hudson left no immediate survivors.
| John C ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ X / twitter.com |
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