The Canadian-born Robertson was a high school dropout and one-man melting pot - part-Jewish, part-Mohawk and Cayuga - who fell in love with the seemingly limitless sounds and byways of his adopted country and wrote out of a sense of amazement and discovery at a time when the Vietnam War had alienated millions of young Americans. Robertson died surrounded by family, a statement from his manager said.įrom their years as Bob Dylan's masterful backing group to their own stardom as embodiments of old-fashioned community and virtuosity, The Band profoundly influenced popular music in the 1960s and '70s, first by literally amplifying Dylan's polarizing transition from folk artist to rock star and then by absorbing the works of Dylan and Dylan's influences as they fashioned a new sound immersed in the American past.

Robbie Robertson, The Band's lead guitarist and songwriter who in such classics as 'The Weight,' 'Up on Cripple Creek' and 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down' mined and helped reshape American music, has died at 80.

Robbie Robertson, The Band's Canada-born lead guitarist and songwriter who mined and helped remake Americana, dies at 80.

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