Rags and Bones
Rags and Bones
An Exploration of The Band
Contributions by Joshua Coleman, Christine Hand Jones, Kevin C. Neece, Charlotte Pence, George Plasketes, Jeffrey Scholes, Jeff Sellars, Toby Thompson, and Jude Warne
After performing with Ronnie Hawkins as the Hawks (1957–1964), The Band (Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, Robbie Robertson, and Levon Helm) eventually rose to fame in the sixties as backing musicians for Bob Dylan. This collaboration with Dylan presented the group with a chance to expand musically and strike out on their own. The Band’s fusion of rock, country, soul, and blues music—all tinged with a southern flavor and musical adventurousness—created a unique soundscape. The combined use of multiple instruments, complex song structures, and poetic lyrics required attentive listening and a sophisticated interpretive framework. It is no surprise, then, that they soon grew to be one of the biggest bands of their era.
In Rags and Bones: An Exploration of The Band, scholars and musicians take a broad, multidisciplinary approach to The Band and their music, allowing for examination through sociological, historical, political, religious, technological, cultural, and philosophical means. Each contributor approaches The Band from their field of interest, offering a wide range of investigations into The Band’s music and influence.
Commercially successful and critically lauded, The Band created a paradoxically mythic and hauntingly realistic lyrical landscape for their songs—and their musicianship enlarged this detailed landscape. This collection offers a rounded examination, allowing the multifaceted music and work of The Band to be appreciated by audiences old and new.
Rags and Bones, like The Band, contains multitudes.
A stimulating collection, Rags and Bones is a must for anyone with an abiding love for the musical output of The Band. Readers will be left with a deeper appreciation for the group, gain a greater understanding as to the meaning of inherent in several songs, and join the writers in embracing the legacy of a truly remarkable band of musical savants.
In quilt-like fashion, editors Jeff Sellars and Kevin C. Neece have brought together nine insightful essays that illuminate The Band and its music from multiple perspectives.
{A}n innovative and engaging volume that significantly advances our understanding of The Band and its place in North American music.
It’s about time there was a solid collection of essays on The Band. The essays here are informative, engaging, and lucidly written. It’s enjoyable as well as insightful. An excellent collection.
Jeff Sellars teaches in Northern California and along the Oregon Coast. He has taught at Southwestern Oregon Community College, Thomas Edison State University, and Humboldt State University. Kevin C. Neece is a writer and commentator on media, the arts, and pop culture. He is editor or coeditor of multiple books and journals, as well as producer and host of The Gospel According to Star Trek podcast, based on his book The Gospel According to Star Trek: The Original Crew and its forthcoming sequels.
