It is with sadness that we report the passing of legendary multi-instrumentalist Garth Hudson, the last surviving original member of the Band. He died on January 21, 2025. Our condolences to his family, friends and fans.
Born in Windsor, Ontario, Garth was invited to join Ronnie Hawkins after being impressed with his performance in London, Ontario. That backing group would then join Bob Dylan and set off on their own as Levon and the Hawks and later, the Band. This legendary collective changed music history and almost single-handedly created the Americana genre.
The Band broke up in 1976 and reunited in the 80's and 90's with a new lineup, which included Garth. He also had a successful solo career and did a bit of studio work.
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The Band Official Facebook Page
Today, we sadly say goodbye to Garth "Honey Boy" Hudson, the last living original member of The Band. A musical genius and cornerstone of the group’s timeless sound, Garth once said, “I found some true enjoyment in helping people get to the bottom of their feelings.” Through his music, he did just that—helping us all feel more deeply and connect to something greater. Rest easy, Garth.
Garth Hudson was by far the most unusual person I ever met in my life. Every thought, conversation, memory was told in the same way he played the organ/piano/sax. With an improvisational style and total uniqueness, that left me puzzled more than once.
He was a gentle soul. A genius, yet so helpless in many ways. It felt like you were talking to a deer, or an animal that you only got a fleeting glimpse at. He talked slowly and deliberately, but if you waited for it, there was always a gem or little humour. or twist.
I got in touch with Garth when I was thinking of doing a follow up recording to 2B3 The Toronto Sessions that would be the New York sessions. I called him and he said he would do it but only with Wild Bill Davis. (Organist for Count Basie's band and others in the 50's.) he gave me a number for Bill, but I only got his widow on the line as Wild Bill had died the year before.
I thought that was it, but months later he called me and asked if I wanted to record a performance with his Wife Maud at the opening of the Wolf Theatre in his hometown of London ON. I said "of course". The concert was only weeks away. Eddie Baltimore brought some recording gear and the result is LIVE at the Wolf.
When I showed up that afternoon, I had only heard his few piano performances on the Band songs like The Weight, and Rag Mama Rag. To say I was shocked by the breadth of his knowledge and ability doesn't do it justice.
That recording started an 18 month journey with Garth and Maud, rerecording the same tracks, recording new material and generally driving me to distraction. But only because he wanted it to be right. I will tell some of those stories in other posts.
One such session at Cherry Beach Sound happened about 6 months after the Live recording. The session was booked at 4PM at $250.00/hr. Garth and Maude did not arrive until 10PM. Luckily since I was a in-house producer the studio gave me some grace on that. I remember Garth coming in and placing a large vintage suitcase on the Leslie. We had the piano all mic'd and were rarin' to go. We left him in the room to gather himself and go to the piano. From earlier sessions we knew we had to be ready with the record button, a he would just sit down and start playing, or start playing before he sat down.
But he was taking a long time at this suitcase. It was 3' x 2' and 10" thick. Was he getting charts? cassette recordings, old FX gear. Who new? Anything was always possible with Garth. After about 20 min. of this (the clock is now running) I went out to him and said "Garth, the piano is all mic'd and ready for you."
He was intently going though the thousands of connectors of ALL kinds for any audio connector you might need in your lifetime, that lived in this suitcase.
RCA to mini, mini to XLR, stereo 1/4" to mono neutrik. The whole gamut of connectors. Thousands of them.
I said, "Garth we are all ready and we have all the connectors we need." He looked at me and in his growl said "You never know when you might need a connector." He was prepared.
It seemed to be part of a ritual.
After my first conversation with him about the 2B3 project, I asked if I could send him my SHORTHANDED solo piano CD. Shortly I was getting calls at 3am from Garth. Garth was up most nights and slept during the day. He would be commenting in detail about a certain track. Telling me the whole history of the piece and where the left hand had been used back to the turn of the 20th century. He was a fountain of knowledge. He would put the crook of the phone on his shoulder and then play me (and sometimes sing-a-long) to examples of where I could take these tunes. had I heard of this player. do you know about this technique?
I remember looking around my kitchen thinking "Whose going to believe me that Garth Hudson is giving me piano lessons over the phone in the middle of the night."
I wish I had recorded them, but this was before cell phones. He did this to help me. To impart some of his knowledge. There was never any sense of him being anything but encouraging. He thought (rightly) that he had another blues piano enthusiast and that like him, I would be interested.
Garth was a savant and likely somewhere along the Asperger's continuum. He built a green house, made his own guns in his machine shop including his own bullets. He collected ancient medieval manuscripts by Ockegham a 15th century composer and other early church composers. He had an extensive LP collection and new the catalog numbers of every record in the collection.
On hearing a Dixie Hummingbird's song on the radio, he anounced that this was from a 1950's recording that had been the best selling gospel record at the time and then stated its catalog number that was something like CS 347920. He knew these numbers.
He was also a water diviner, dowser or water witching. and found an underground stream on our property when he stayed over in Orillia one night. My son was a science student and very skeptical, but they had hit it off over cheerios that morning. Garth offered to show him, and he did find the path of the stream that lay under our sod.
There is so much to say about this giant of the keyboard. The Genetic Method (solo before Chest Fever) shows the way his mind worked. Only a little of any of those performances would be 'prepared' in any way. His mind just freely associated.
In the studio, he would sit at the grand piano and start on a Duke Ellington tune which would remind him of another Duke song that would bring him to other standards and tunes by Basie, Cole Porter etc. He would switch between the songs and play bridges from another song, go from Harlem stride, to walking tenths, from Fats Waller to Teddy Wilson. He had the musical breadth of Art Tatum going from Classical to jazz in the same few bars. Whatever hit his remarkable ear. He would play for 25 minutes at a time. It was magical to be around such a talent. Such a gift.
I will write of other experiences with Garth later.
My condolences to his family, many friends and legions of fans.
I will include a link to one of the pieces from Live at the Wolf.
It is stunning in its inventiveness and virtuosity.
May the wonders of the universe be yours now dear friend.
So saddened by the passing of my great friend and hero, Garth Hudson. Garth was tremendously kind, Mensa smart, and constantly fascinating and fascinated with music. He had a wonderful sense of humor and was greatly encouraging to musicians of all ages and interests. As Richard Bell used to say, “There’s all the musicians in the world… Then there’s Garth”
Sad news today with the passing of Garth Hudson - this grainy photo of Garth and myself was taken in 1989 when Garth spent a number of days working with the Northern Pikes while we were recording our Snow in June album at Bearsville Studios near Woodstock, New York. Garth subsequently appeared in 2 music videos with us, and we had some crazy fun experiences together. Garth was a brilliant musician and an amazing human being, and I feel extremely blessed and grateful to have had the opportunity to work together musically and to become friends - sending love and prayers to Garth’s family and friends .
Links: The Band, More Stories of The Band, Video above courtesy of The Band
Video above courtesy of Garth Hudson - Topic
Video above courtesy of MrMrsClaus
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