The Band’s Garth Hudson Dead at 87

Garth Hudson, the last surviving member of the Band, has died at the age of 87. Hudson, who played the Lowrey organ, synthesizers, accordion, and woodwind for the legendary roots-rock band, passed away peacefully in his sleep this morning at a nursing home in Woodstock, NY, his estate executor confirmed to the Toronto Star.

Eric Garth Hudson on born on August 2, 1937, in Windsor, Ontario. His parents, Fred James Hudson and Olive Louella Pentland, were both musicians and enrolled him in formal piano training from an early age. Hudson played organ in church as well as in his uncle’s funeral parlor before studying at the University of Western Ontario. Feeling restricted by the rigidity of the classical repertoire (but taking inspiration from it in his later work), he dropped out and started playing professionally, at first with the regional bands the Silhouettes and Paul London and the Kapers.

In December 1961, he joined Ronnie Hawkins and Levon Helm in the Hawks, the group that would become the Band. He joined the band – which featured fellow Canadians Robbie Robertson, Rich Manuel, and Rick Danko — under two conditions: one that they buy him a Lowery organ, and two that he give them music lessons for an extra $10 a week.

Before turning into the Band, the Hawks served as Bob Dylan’s backing band, playing on his electric tour in 1966 and recording material for Blonde on Blonde. Hudson served as an engineer on the Band’s second collaboration with Dylan, The Basement Tapes, before the group released its debut album, Music From Big Pink, in 1968. The album includes the classic ‘Chest Fever’, which the group would expand with a solo organ introduction called ‘The Genetic Method’. Its self-titled sequel came out in 1969, followed by 1970’s Stage Fright, 1971’s Cahoots, the 1973 covers album Moondog Matinee, and 1975’s Northern Lights-Southern Cross.

The Band’s star-studded farewell concert at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom on Thanksgiving 1976 was the basis for Martin Scorsese’s 1978 movie The Last Waltz, which is considered one of the greatest concert films in history. The classic lineup released one more LP, Islands, in 1977. Hudson went on to participate in various iterations and partial reunions of the Band, and became active as a session musician, taking on work for artists including Emmylou Harris, Van Morrison, and Leonard Cohen. He composed music for Our Lady Queen of the Angels, a 1980 multimedia show commemorating the Los Angeles bicentennial.

Hudson released his first solo album, The Sea to the North, in 2001, but, having dealt with a series of financial hardships, also filed a third time for bankruptcy protection that year. His wife and frequent bandmate, singer Sister Maud Hudson, died in February 2022.

Konstantinos Pappis
Konstantinos Pappis
Konstantinos Pappis is a writer, journalist, and music editor at Our Culture. His work has also appeared in Pitchfork, GIGsoup, and other publications. He currently lives in Athens, Greece.
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