"This is a weird way to earn a living."

November 24, 2016 12:47 PM

Andy Kershaw just spent 45 minutes interviewing The Band's Robbie Robertson. BBC Radio posted the full audio of their chat online as a free downloadable mp3 this morning, and it's fascinating. Among the topics Robertson discusses are a memorable early Hawks gig in Jack Ruby's Texas club, dealing with audience hostility on Dylan's first electric tour, taking the Stones' Brian Jones to a gig by the then-unknown Jimi Hendrix, his memories of the Woodstock festival, 1970s drug madness in the music industry, The Band's legendary farewell at The Last Waltz and why a touring musician's years are like dog years. Both men are clearly enjoying themselves here and Kershaw can be heard cackling like a mad witch at Robertson's best anecdotes.
posted by Paul Slade (14 comments total)

I'm supposed to be working, but I might have to listen to this immediately.

I'm still buzzing from seeing Garth perform last night at a Last Waltz 40th-anniversary concert with a 'supergroup' of local Kiwi musicians.
posted by Soulfather at 3:03 PM on November 24, 2016 [2 favorites]

Wow. Thanks for posting this. It is really funny. He's obviously a really emotionally intelligent guy. I'm only as far in as Jack Ruby but I'm hooked.

I'm curious: His speaking voice here is so different than here Is that something Lanois did?
posted by Mr. Yuck at 3:44 PM on November 24, 2016

Robbie was also interviewed recently on the CBC Radio show Q.
posted by Ashwagandha at 3:59 PM on November 24, 2016 [2 favorites]

That was fun to listen to. I had a huge crush on Robbie for a long time. Then I heard and read other versions of Band dynamics besides Robbie's own and I fell out of love. But he sounded good here.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 7:34 PM on November 24, 2016 [2 favorites]

Is Andy Kershaw always that obnoxious? I wanted to listen to Robertson tell his stories, but it felt like almost half the interview was Kershaw talking and spoiling the punchlines. At least Tom Power on Q mostly shut up and let Robertson talk (thank you Ashwagandha for the link). Even spawn-of-Satan Ben Mulroney did a better job.

Mr. Yuck: Not sure what you mean, but during the Kershaw and Mulroney interviews it sounds like he's fighting a cold. Also, in the latter interview he seems to sometimes slip into (for lack of a better term) a very slight First Nations accent.
posted by e-man at 8:50 PM on November 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

Also there is three decades of ageing on that voice between the music video and the Kershaw interview.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 9:09 PM on November 24, 2016

does he talk about his mic was unplugged for the entirety of the last waltz because he is a horrible singer?
posted by entropicamericana at 10:00 PM on November 24, 2016

I caught a bit of this yesterday on the radio while driving into work and I think the best bit is when he is talking about how they're being received (poorly) at all of their venues so they're going over recordings of previous shows and he just says that they're right and the audience is wrong. This is good music that sounds great and it is the world that is wrong.
posted by koolkat at 1:23 AM on November 25, 2016

Given how he slags those in the Band beyond response, De mortuis nil nisi bonum dicendum est certainly is not the motto on his coat of arms.
posted by y2karl at 2:41 AM on November 25, 2016

Is there any way to listen to this without Flash?
posted by DJZouke at 5:24 AM on November 25, 2016

Got it by downloading.
posted by DJZouke at 5:26 AM on November 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

Levon Helm, in his "This Wheel's On Fire", writes about how he felt about Robbie Robertson.
posted by DJZouke at 5:33 AM on November 25, 2016

Anyone read his new memoir? I just picked it up at the library, but I've always kind of been on Team Levon.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:20 AM on November 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

It was 40 years ago today (ish)....
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 8:58 AM on November 28, 2016