Robbie Robertson
It's a bit of a sore spot, the Thanksgiving in Indian country.Collection: Thanksgiving
It's extraordinary that revolutions taking place around the world were sparked by communication on the Internet.Collection: Communication
Music should never be harmless.Collection: Music
In Americana, the facts and the dreams seem to be all the same to me.Collection: Dreams
Some bands today have the experience of really working together and honing their craft. And other bands are very much like, 'I just got a guitar for Christmas, let's start a band.' And you can hear the difference.Collection: Christmas
I really have to feel a sense of freedom in my storytelling.Collection: Freedom
Most of my younger Native American friends are not in any way looking for sympathy, and they're not looking to lay guilt on anybody. They have their dignity, and they do what they do.Collection: Sympathy
You don't stumble upon your heritage. It's there, just waiting to be explored and shared.
My thirst for knowledge and experience comes from the idea that once you learned something, it was time to learn something else. I missed out on a formal educational process, so I'm making up for that.
If I can play one note and make you cry, then that's better than those fancy dancers playing twenty notes.
There's something so healthy about young people speaking up in unity.
I wanted to develop a guitar style where phrases and lines get there just in the nick of time, like with Curtis Mayfield and Steve Cropper. Subtleties mean so much, and there is a stunning beauty in them.
Do you know what a skin walker is? It's a thing in Indian mythology. There are certain people born with this gift, and they're able to actually get inside you and mess with your feelings and with your mind. And if a skin walker chooses to get a hold of you, there's not much you can do.
When I was 14 years old, I had the opportunity to meet Buddy Holly. I asked him how he got that big, powerful sound out of his guitar amp. He said, 'I blew a speaker and decided not to get it fixed.'
To find a new star in the sky is pretty hard.
The road has taken a lot of the great ones: Hank Williams, Buddy Holly, Otis Redding, Janis, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis.
Everybody grows in their own way.
When I was playing with Bob Dylan in, like, 1966, I was, like, 20 years old.
Music isn't necessarily made to last, and there's always been disposable music.
Bob Dylan is as influential as any artist that there has been.
I am fascinated by the places that music comes from, like fife-and-drum blues from southern Mississippi or Cajun music out of Lafayette, Louisiana, shape-note singing, old harp singing from the mountains - I love that stuff. It's like the beginning of rock and roll: something comes down from the hills, and something comes up from the delta.
I think that there's always great music being made. Always has been, always will be.
You never know what could be interesting tomorrow.
The Band was rebelling against the rebellion. The rebellion went to a place where it became too obvious, too trendy, like you were just following the pack. So it was our choice to get off the bandwagon - no pun intended - and do things that were in our background and what was the most honest thing to do.
Record making is an extraordinary experience.
It's easy to be a genius in your twenties. In your forties, it's difficult.
When I was younger, I thought I was too young to really be personal. I thought that what I was feeling and thinking might be half-baked.
I play guitar quite a bit, because I'm always in search of something. I don't play to jam, but because I'm fishing. I'm looking for something, that I hope you can never find. If I do find it, I'm afraid I won't have a need to do this any more.
I always like to keep one hand in the tepee and the other hand in the synagogue. Wouldn't it be great if there was a combination of the two? You could go to synagogue, and it would be really hot in there.
People think I left The Band and spoiled this whole thing, and that's not what happened. Nobody broke up The Band. Nobody ever said, 'That's it, we're done.'
There is an extraordinary collaborative spirit when you are learning and growing.
I've been really fortunate that I've been at a lot of critical crossroads in my musical journey. When I look back, there are some pretty interesting things to look at.
I love traditional music. But in any culture around the world, there is the historic and cultural music and everything that's been passed down and passed down, and hopefully you take that, and then you take it, you know, the next distance, and then somebody else takes it the next distance.
The native music of North America, the original-roots music of this country, is also the underworld music of this country.
I remember from my earliest years people speaking, you know, in a certain kind of rhythm and telling stories and sharing experiences in a way that was different in Indian country than it was other places. And I was really struck by this and obviously very affected by it, because it's always come out in my songs.
Think about the number of people who do film music, make records and have a Native American heritage - and I may be the only one on the list.
In a lot of groups, you can change a musician, and it doesn't mean anything.
One of the things I feel very strong about is the achievement of the Band really being a complete band.
Sixteen years on the road is long enough. Twenty years is unthinkable.
I saw Ray Charles at Massey Hall.
At a young age I thought, 'Wow, that fiddle thing, that's pretty cool. That mandolin is great. These drums, I like these drums... ' They were Indian drums. And I was saying, 'But that guitar. That guitar. Girls are going to like that guitar.'
Cowboys had guitars. And they sang country 'cause they lived in the country.
I love the idea of having a kid who says, 'Yeah, of course I knew about Billie Holiday and Johnny Cash when I was nine years old.'
We need to have a taste factor in our life. It isn't about what's popular; it's about what's really good.
Boy, do I got some stories to tell.
I think the world of Chuck Berry.
By the time I was 13, I was the only one in London, Ontario, who knew how to play rock n' roll.
I don't like overt traditionalism.
That whole lifestyle - make a record, do a tour: I know how to do that. It doesn't interest me.
I haven't been to many music events where somebody was performing and it actually made me cry.