Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-The Band

Artist:The Band

Song:Time To Kill

Album:Stage Fright

When The Band became one of the most popular rock bands of the late 60s, they seemed to come out of nowhere. But they had actually been working together for several years as a backing band. The group started as a backing band for singer Ronnie Hawkins. Hawkins moved from Arkansas to Toronto in 1958 and brought drummer Levon Helm (born May 26, 1940 in Marvell, AR) with him. Hawkins started looking for local musicians and asked keyboard player Scott Cushine to join up. He did so on the condition that his pal Robbie Robertson (born July 5, 1943 in Toronto) join too. Bassist Rick Danko (born Dec. 9, 1943 in Simcoe, ON) joined in 1961 followed by keyboard player Richard Manuel (born Apr. 3, 1943 in Stratford, ON) and organist Garth Hudson (born Aug. 2, 1937 in Windsor, ON). Hawkins was a big star in Canada but he's a bigger than life personality and tended to go through a lot of musicians. The whole group tired of his personality and left in the summer of 1963 and were renamed Levon Helm & The Hawks and then The Canadian Squires. In 1964 they got together with blues singer John Hammond and that led to a 1965 New York gig with Bob Dylan. They remained with Dylan for several years but eventually manager Albert Grossman convinced them to record as a group. Helm had left but returned for their 1968 Capitol Records debut Music From Big Pink. The Band's mix of rock & roll and R & B musicianship was intially championed by the music press but eventually the public caught on and they became very popular. Stage Fright was their third album and is now available on CD with bonus tracks. This version of Time To Kill is an alternate take. All five guys wrote music and the music holds up well today. The Band split up in 1973 but have reunited occasionally with varying degrees of success. Also, Robbie Robertson & Levon Helm have had successful solo careers. Richard Manuel committed suicide in 1986. The Band is considered today as the quintessential American band which is ironic because they're mostly Canadian. Here's The Band performing Time To Kill in Pittsburgh Nov. 1970.