Touched By The Hand Of Robbie
One of the greatest songwriters in American post-war music, both solo and with The Band, Robbie Robertson was Bob Dylan’s right-hand man throughout the firestorm of the mid-60s electric period and Martin Scorsese’s music producer of choice for three decades. Now, as the living music legend releases a solo album featuring collaborations with Tom Morello and Trent Reznor, he grants Hot Press a career-spanning interview.
Roisin Dwyer, 29 Apr 2011
As a member of The Band he changed the course of modern rock. Now Robbie Robertson is about to release his fifth solo album, which features contributions from Tom Morello, Trent Reznor, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood. It’s his most personal work to date. On How To Become Clairvoyant Robertson examines his career highs and lows, the successes and excesses, the murky depths and dizzying peaks of the rock & roll rollercoaster.
“There was a period when Martin Scorsese and I were housemates, we had a place in Los Angeles and one in New York,” he says. “At one stage of this madness Marty had to go into the hospital and he was really, really ill. I went to visit him and it became very clear from what the doctor was saying that that was it. The jig was up. We really had to change courses, the party was over.”
Robertson at once revives and exorcises these demons on the new song ‘He Don’t Live Here No More’ (“I was riding on the night train/I been moving in the fast lane/I was only trying to kill the pain/Too far gone”). On previous long-players he has explored a variety of subjects, including his ancestry – Music For The Native Americans (1994) – but never before has the writing been this personal. Why now?
“There’s something kind of mysterious about ‘Why now?’, it’s something I don’t completely understand myself,” he says, relaxing in his Los Angeles home. “When I’ve been asked about this I think, well maybe enough time has passed from these periods that I’m talking about. I think it might have something to do with the distance, now I’m comfortable with it.
“After I finished this record I have to admit that I felt a certain relief. I think it was good medicine. It’s turned out to be one of the most enjoyable albums that I have ever worked on in my life so I’m really grateful for this experience.”
In a career that has spanned over five decades, Robertson has been at the epicentre of many seismic cultural shifts, most notably Dylan’s controversial 1966 tour.
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