2025’s “Top” Ten Music Losses: Garth Hudson (#5)

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Oh, will you look at the time? I slept late, cleaned the car off, fed the critters, checked on the neighbors, and had lunch. Busy morning, and now it’s time for tea in the afternoon and another salute to a musician we lost last year. #5: Garth Hudson, CM As with Sonny Curtis yesterday, Garth Hudson’s passing closes the book on a legendary band. In this case, The Band. Well, asterisk: Bob Dylan is still living. For those of you who don’t know, The Band started as Bob Dylan’s backing band when Dylan “went electric” with his folk music. Dylan broke his leg in a motorcycle accident, which caused The Band to become their own act. And wow, what an act they became!! The genre that we call “Americana” these days basically has its origins in The Band. They combined just about anything and everything available, providing that Duke Ellington’s famous saying, “There’s only two kinds of music, good and bad” is absolutely true. The Band broke up after that famous final concert (The Last Waltz), going separate ways. Richard Manuel was the first member to go, taking his own life in 1986. There were sporadic reunions (usually for hall of fame inductions). Robbie Robertson made a spectacular solo album in the mid-80s. Levon Helm dabbled in acting (he played Loretta Lynn’s dad in Coal Miner’s Daughter) and put out what I’d argue to be the best solo album by a member of The Band (Dirt Farmer). Hudson, not being a lead singer, took the more subtle approach. He played on albums by acts as diverse as Van Morrison and Emmylou Harris and joined the reunited Flying Burrito Brothers. Although never in the “foreground,” with either The Band or any other act he worked with, Hudson’s keyboard, saxophone, and accordion work was an important addition to anything he appeared on. With his death, the book closes on The Band. We’re all left to argue about if it’s “take a load off Fanny” or Annie now. What great music we have to remember him, and them, with. Garth Hudson, CM Born Eric Garth Hudson, March 2, 1937, Windsor, Ontario Died January 25, 2025, Woodstock, New York (natural causes) (age 87) HALLS OF FAME: Rock and Roll, 1994; Canadian Music, 1989 (with The Band) Here’s what’s probably The Band’s best-known song, “The Weight” (also known as “Take a Load off Fanny” or “Annie” ):