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"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".

 

I am very fortunate in having heard this amazing song performed live by The Band on their tour in support of the s/t "brown" album. The only other live music experience I’ve had that equals it was hearing Little Village perform John Hiatt’s "Lipstick Traces" on a soundstage in Burbank in ’92. The Little Village album was not so hot, but they sure were!

The Beatles? Saw them in ’65. Hendrix? Saw him in ’68 and ’69. Cream? Saw them in ’67 and ’68. The Who? Saw them in ’68 and ’69. Who else ya wanna name? Sorry, hearing The Band live spoiled me for just about EVERYONE else. Not Iris DeMent, whom I just saw this past Thursday. Stunningly great!

 

Here’s J.R. Robertson, Eric Levon Helm, and some other guy talking about the song and its’ creation:

 

https://youtu.be/nVYBW_zCvOg?t=1

 

 

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Showing 2 responses by rettrussell

rettrussell's avatar
rettrussell
172 posts
 

The Band…..self titled. I’m hard pressed to recall another album capable of  transporting me so deeply into another mind space.

”Last night, ain’t no joke…my whole barn went up in smoke..” King Harvest.

Richard Manuel’s vocals on Whispering Pines. One of the most heartfelt performances on record.

On a Sunday afternoon it will take you away.

rettrussell's avatar
rettrussell
172 posts
 

Having a Southern heritage myself it always dismays me when entire swaths of  people are vilified, as if they acted in unity to commit "evil".

Viewed through the lens of todays (hopefully) forward thinking, enlightened perspective we can easily analyze past practices that never should have been allowed to happen.

To my way of thinking we should all dust off our copy of Randy Newman's classic album "Good Old Boys" and give a close listen to one of the greatest album lead-off songs: 

"Rednecks"

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