“That’s the one”: Robbie Robertson on his favourite Chuck Berry song
As one of the founding members and longest-serving constituents of The Band, one can’t underestimate the importance of Robbie Robertson as a guitarist, songwriter and vocalist. While there were plenty of other members vying for the spotlight within the group, Robertson was a vital cog in the wheel that kept the group moving forwards in a positive fashion from 1965 until their first hiatus in 1977, when he departed permanently.
With so many other exceptional songwriters in their ranks, one of the major selling points of The Band was the distinctively different voices and styles that used to get an opportunity to shine on each of their records. Robertson was perhaps the most prolific writer within the group, but the moments where he allowed the likes of Rick Danko, Levon Helm and Richard Manuel to contribute allowed the group some space to squeeze in a little more variety in the sonic elements.
Robertson however, can claim to have written some of the most incredible and most celebrated tracks from their repertoire, with ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’ and ‘The Weight’ being among his finest contributions to the group. Ultimately, he’ll be remembered as the creative driving force behind the group, and it was his influence that shone the brightest on their records, despite the seemingly democratic nature of splitting songwriting duties.
The major influences that inspired Robertson to become a guitarist and songwriter in the first place were the rock and roll and blues artists that he was exposed to as a teen, listening to radio stations that exclusively played these genres in his formative years. While there was also a significant influence coming from his Native upbringing and hearing the traditional music being played by members of his mother’s family growing up, it was ultimately his love for artists like Chuck Berry that directed him towards his early career path of playing in rock and roll, country and blues groups as a session player.
Berry is regarded as a major touchstone for so many guitarists of a certain age, having ultimately revolutionised the way that the instrument was played and having helped bring rock and roll into the cultural mainstream. An exceptional player, so many others look up to him as an idol of guitar-playing wonder, and Robertson is no different. When asked by the LA Times to discuss some of the tracks that changed his life, Robertson immediately sprang to pick out a favourite from Berry.
Speaking about ‘Brown Eyed Handsome Man’, he said it was a track that ultimately changed his perception of how to play the guitar and shaped his approach to playing. “At the beginning of rock ‘n’ roll, ‘Brown Eyed Handsome Man’ stopped me in my tracks,” he claimed. “There is a particular guitar sound on these early Chuck Berry records, and I thought, ‘What is that? How do you do that?’”
His love for Berry even stretches to the point that one of his prized possessions towards the end of his life was a custom-made Chuck Berry Gibson 350 guitar; an exact replica of the one the legendary guitarist used to play. “That’s the exact guitar that we’re hearing here,” he explained to the interviewer. “No other guitar has that sound, and I got it. I don’t know what it is about that instrument, but that’s the one.” Robertson must have felt blessed to own such an iconic instrument, and would ultimately have been made up to own the same guitar that helped create one of the most influential tracks of his life.
