The band began life as The Hawks, the backing band of rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins. Mid sixties Bob Dylan chose them for his band The Band and Dylan helped with the much-discussed transition from acoustic to electric sound. At the end of the sixties, the band took first independent albums. The earthy roots rock of the band spoke primarily to listeners who had grown tired of the excesses of the
… psychedelic music. The largely Canadian group did a variety of traditional American styles together to melt into a unique sound which could excel the individual band members. The album and film The Last Waltz in 1978 seemed to be the swan song of The Band to be, but some band members went still further in the early eighties, albeit without singer / songwriter Robbie Robertson.more