By Matthew Lewis
, (Reuters) – Garth Hudson, the organist and multi-instrumentalist whose wizardry enhanced some of the best-known songs of 1960s and ’70s rock group the Band including “Up on Cripple Creek,” “Chest Fever” and “Ophelia,” died on Tuesday at age 87, according to the Canadian Press, which cited his friend Jan Haust.
Hudson, a Canadian who died in Woodstock, New York, where he has lived for years, was hailed as one of the greatest keyboardists in rock music. He also played saxophone, accordion and other instruments.
Hudson was the last surviving member of the Band after guitarist and songwriter Robbie Robertson died on Aug. 9, 2023.
“Hudson’s Lowrey organ, from which he could coax a variety of sounds, from gospel to classical, was a centerpiece of the Band’s sound,” Erik Hage wrote on allmusic.com.
As the Band’s drummer, Levon Helm, put it, Hudson was “the soul and presiding genius of our band.”
Hudson was the oldest member of the Band and the only one who did not sing. With his bushy beard, high forehead and bear-like presence, he was perhaps the group’s most recognizable member. Onstage, he came across as an intensely focused mad scientist of the keyboards who conjured up swooping, note-bending solos and timeless musical touches.
In recent years, Hudson had been in poor health and experienced some financial hard times, according to media reports. The reclusive musician resided in Woodstock, New York, for decades.
The Band, made up of four Canadians and an American, existed from 1960 to 1976. They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Their first two albums, from 1968 and 1969, are considered among the greatest in rock history. The group drew from folk, blues, country and soul influences, and they were pioneers of what is now called Americana music. They formed an influential association with Bob Dylan in the mid-1960s. For much of their career they were based in Woodstock, New York.
In addition to Hudson, the group’s Canadian members included guitarist Robertson, bassist Rick Danko and pianist Richard Manuel. Helm was from the U.S. state of Arkansas. Lead vocals were shared by Danko, Helm and Manuel. The Band reunited, without Robertson, in the 1980s and ‘90s and released several new albums but failed to recapture the original group’s success. Manuel died in 1986, Danko died in 1999 and Helm in 2012.
HONEY BOY
Eric “Garth” Hudson was born in Windsor, Ontario, on Aug. 2, 1937. The classically trained musician grew up in London, Ontario, where he played organ in his uncle’s funeral parlor.
When Hudson in 1961 joined the group that would eventually become the Band, he insisted that the other members pay him $10 a week for music lessons. This made the arrangement more palatable to his parents.
At first, the group backed rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins and was known as the Hawks. Hudson was an odd fit initially, Robertson wrote in his 2016 memoir. “Garth was quiet and clearly a bit offbeat … (But) he played brilliantly, in a more complex way than anybody we had ever jammed with.”
Helm recalled: “We called Garth ‘H.B.’ among ourselves. This stood for ‘Honey Boy,’ because at the end of the day, after the other instruments were put away, Garth was still in the studio sweetening the tracks, stacking up those chords, putting on brass, woodwinds, whatever was needed to make that music sing.”
The croaking-frog sounds on the 1969 song “Up on Cripple Creek” were Hudson playing the clavinet through a wah-wah pedal. He contributed all the brass and woodwinds on the song “Ophelia.” On the Band’s most famous song, “The Weight,” Hudson played piano. But his calling card was the 1968 song “Chest Fever,” a monumental organ workout that began with a reference to Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Other Band songs that showcased Hudson’s prowess were “Stage Fright,” “Bessie Smith” and “It Makes No Difference.”
“Garth was a teacher, but much more,” Robertson said. “A sidekick. Part of our street gang. A brother in arms. An inspiration in showing how much a musical instrument has locked inside of it, and how much you can truly get out of it.”
In addition to the Band, Hudson worked with artists including Marianne Faithfull, Norah Jones, Neko Case, Mercury Rev, John Hiatt, the Lemonheads and many others. He sometimes performed as a duo with his wife, Maud Marie Kegel Hudson, who sang and played guitar.
Maud Hudson died at age 71 in February 2022.
Hudson released a solo album, “The Sea to the North,” in 2001.
“He is genuinely the most original and brilliant and moving keyboard player that has ever operated within rock ‘n’ roll,” Barney Hoskyns, author of a 1993 biography on the Band, told the New York Times in 2013.
(Reporting by Matthew Lewis in Chicago; editing by Diane Craft and David Gregorio)
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