The Band is probably the ultimate example of people taking all kinds of music, from gospel to blues to mountain music to folk music to on and on and on and on and putting them all in this big pot and mixing up a new gumbo.
— Robbie Robertson
When I was 14 years old, I had the opportunity to meet Buddy Holly. I asked him how he got that big, powerful sound out of his guitar amp. He said, 'I blew a speaker and decided not to get it fixed.'
I don't like overt traditionalism.
I wanted to develop a guitar style where phrases and lines get there just in the nick of time, like with Curtis Mayfield and Steve Cropper. Subtleties mean so much, and there is a stunning beauty in them.
It's a bit of a sore spot, the Thanksgiving in Indian country.
We need to have a taste factor in our life. It isn't about what's popular; it's about what's really good.
Cowboys had guitars. And they sang country 'cause they lived in the country.
Music should never be harmless.
In a lot of groups, you can change a musician, and it doesn't mean anything.
I remember from my earliest years people speaking, you know, in a certain kind of rhythm and telling stories and sharing experiences in a way that was different in Indian country than it was other places. And I was really struck by this and obviously very affected by it, because it's always come out in my songs.
I've been really fortunate that I've been at a lot of critical crossroads in my musical journey. When I look back, there are some pretty interesting things to look at.
I am fascinated by the places that music comes from, like fife-and-drum blues from southern Mississippi or Cajun music out of Lafayette, Louisiana, shape-note singing, old harp singing from the mountains - I love that stuff. It's like the beginning of rock and roll: something comes down from the hills, and something comes up from the delta.
Do you know what a skin walker is? It's a thing in Indian mythology. There are certain people born with this gift, and they're able to actually get inside you and mess with your feelings and with your mind. And if a skin walker chooses to get a hold of you, there's not much you can do.
You don't stumble upon your heritage. It's there, just waiting to be explored and shared.
One of the greatest live recordings, I think, in the history of the world is Ray Charles in Atlanta... And they didn't even have a big mobile recording thing set up. The word on the street was they only had like two microphones, one for the band and one for him. Perfect recordings. I think it's mono.
My thirst for knowledge and experience comes from the idea that once you learned something, it was time to learn something else. I missed out on a formal educational process, so I'm making up for that.
By the time I was 13, I was the only one in London, Ontario, who knew how to play rock n' roll.
The Band was rebelling against the rebellion. The rebellion went to a place where it became too obvious, too trendy, like you were just following the pack. So it was our choice to get off the bandwagon - no pun intended - and do things that were in our background and what was the most honest thing to do.
I think the world of Chuck Berry.
I love the idea of having a kid who says, 'Yeah, of course I knew about Billie Holiday and Johnny Cash when I was nine years old.'
At a young age I thought, 'Wow, that fiddle thing, that's pretty cool. That mandolin is great. These drums, I like these drums... ' They were Indian drums. And I was saying, 'But that guitar. That guitar. Girls are going to like that guitar.'
Sixteen years on the road is long enough. Twenty years is unthinkable.
Most of my younger Native American friends are not in any way looking for sympathy, and they're not looking to lay guilt on anybody. They have their dignity, and they do what they do.
The native music of North America, the original-roots music of this country, is also the underworld music of this country.
There is an extraordinary collaborative spirit when you are learning and growing.
I always like to keep one hand in the tepee and the other hand in the synagogue. Wouldn't it be great if there was a combination of the two? You could go to synagogue, and it would be really hot in there.
When I was younger, I thought I was too young to really be personal. I thought that what I was feeling and thinking might be half-baked.
I haven't been to many music events where somebody was performing and it actually made me cry.
That whole lifestyle - make a record, do a tour: I know how to do that. It doesn't interest me.
Everybody grows in their own way.
If I can play one note and make you cry, then that's better than those fancy dancers playing twenty notes.
Boy, do I got some stories to tell.
Music isn't necessarily made to last, and there's always been disposable music.
I saw Ray Charles at Massey Hall.
One of the things I feel very strong about is the achievement of the Band really being a complete band.
Think about the number of people who do film music, make records and have a Native American heritage - and I may be the only one on the list.
I love traditional music. But in any culture around the world, there is the historic and cultural music and everything that's been passed down and passed down, and hopefully you take that, and then you take it, you know, the next distance, and then somebody else takes it the next distance.
People think I left The Band and spoiled this whole thing, and that's not what happened. Nobody broke up The Band. Nobody ever said, 'That's it, we're done.'
I play guitar quite a bit, because I'm always in search of something. I don't play to jam, but because I'm fishing. I'm looking for something, that I hope you can never find. If I do find it, I'm afraid I won't have a need to do this any more.
It's easy to be a genius in your twenties. In your forties, it's difficult.
