Music historian Craig Harris was sitting on “go” when music archivist Jan Haust announced to National Public Radio that the last living member of The Band, Garth Hudson, had died quietly in his sleep on Tuesday, January 21, 2025. He was 87. It was then that Harris and his publisher, Bloomsbury Academic, published Last Waltz: The Full Story of The Band. Robbie Robertson passed away from prostate cancer on August 9, 2023, and Levon Helm from throat cancer on April 19, 2012. Richard Manuel was the first band member to die by his own hand, on March 4, 1986, with Rick Danko following on December 10, 1999, from heart failure.
The quintet known as “The Band” was gone, and so was the danger of Harris’ superb, tautly focused book encountering a triangulated attack from the two most pointed critics, Robertson and Helm. Considering these protagonists/antagonists, three texts that contribute heavily to the present book are Robertson’s Testimony: A Memoir (Crown Publishing, 2017) and Helm’s This Wheel’s on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of the Band (with Stephen Davis) (Chicago Review Press, 2013). The third book is The Band’s manager, Jonathan Taplin’s The Magic Years: Scenes from a Rock-and-Roll Life (Heyday Publishing, 2021). Harris’ judicious use of these references bolsters the balanced nature of his own telling.
The result of Harris’ efforts is a lean telling of the history of The Band, sans any taking sides between Robertson and Helm. Harris hits the chief points: Robertson was sick of babysitting Danko, Helm, and Manuel, who were less interested in the business part of the music business. Helm was unhappy about the lack of songwriting credits. Both sides were equally right.
Regarding The Band’s history, Harris begins at the beginning, driving his narrative right up to the doorstep of the assisted living facility where Garth Hudson died, ending the story of the band. He details the Band’s tours (fewer than one would expect), supporting his text with newspaper articles and interview notes.
Harris is already on record regarding the band with his Pioneers of Americana Music: The Band. (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2023). This is where Harris’ “music writing” took place, discussing the part The Band played in the music of the late 1960s and early ‘70s. Where Last Waltz often felt rushed and rote, Pioneers of Americana Music was relaxed and informative. Last Waltz was poorly fact-checked with two of the greater offenders being that Jesse Ed Davis played slide guitar on Jackson Browne’s “Doctor My Eyes and Muddy Waters was born in Tupelo, MS, as opposed to the correct Rolling Fork (or Jug’s Corner).
Those things aside, Last Waltz is an excellent history of The Band with little or no critical reportage to muddy the water.
Bibliography
Craig Harris. Bluegrass, Newgrass, Old-Time, and Americana Music. Pelican, 2021.
Craig Harris. Rise Up!: Indigenous Music in North America. Bison Books, 2023.
Craig Harris. Pioneers of Americana Music: The Band. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2023.
Craig Harris. The Musical Life of Melanie: From The Village to Woodstock and Beyond. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2025.
Craig Harris. Last Waltz: The Full Story of the Band. Bloomsbury Academic, 2025.
I was recently given a copy of Stephen T. Lewis's new book "Richard Manuel" I am looking forward to diving into this. I have Robbie's book Testimony. I wonder if Vol2 will be published posthumously. I will look into finding Harris' Pioneers of Americana.