Ronnie Hawkins

Doyle Weigold · From: CColumbia City, IN, USA

The band I am in was talking about Ronnie Hawkins "Fourty Days" and Robbie Robertson who played lead for him back then. I met them in Toronto Canada around 1959. OK I'm the old man in the band. The keyboard player in the band told us that Robbie went on with the guys in Ronnie's band and went by the name "The Band", which had a top 20 hit with "Up On Cripple Creek". I understand that Ronnie Hawkins is still perfoming. I know it was a knocked out band back then and Hawkins was a super showman. I know he owned a club later on called "The Hawks Nest". I understand he is still performing. Can any of you Canadians or anybody else add to this. A Pickin' Bro. Doyle

Mitch Drumm · From: Frostbite Falls, hard by Veronica Lake

Ronnie recorded consistently into the 1990s at least. There are many LPs and CDs available if you look around.

He has been ill (74 years old), but I don't know if he is still performing.

Wikipedia is a wonderful thing if you don't take it all as gospel:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Hawkins

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Um - I'm not Canadian, but yeah. Robbie Robertson and the rest of Ronnie's backup band "The Hawks" moved on to become Bob Dylan's backup band in the mid-60s, and then in 1968 released "Music from Big Pink" as "The Band", which is very widely regarded as one of the finest and most influential LPs in popular American music history. "Up on Cripple Creek" was on their second self-titled LP. The significance of The Band was not their Top-XX hits. Frankly, they didn't have many, nor is that remotely significant. In fact, if they had succumbed to the need for lots of big 'hits', they probably wouldn't have been anywhere near as excellent or influential. The Band presaged the "Americana" movement by decades. I think they are - by far - the most significant American roots/rock and roll band of the 20th century, bar none.

Ronnie Hawkins was a great rock and roll singer and performer - he and drummer Levon Helm were from Arkansas, and the rest of the band were Canadian. I suggest that you check out "The Last Waltz" to see Ronnie (and a whole lot of other rock/blues greats) playing with the Band at their last show in 1976 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Waltz. Martin Scorsese made this into a film that has been celebrated by many as the greatest rock and roll film ever.

People ask me routinely which was the most influential show I've ever seen. That's a hard question, but certainly in the top few was seeing the Band in Boston in June, 1970. They were absolutely at the top of their form and riveting live. They just came out and played with no fanfare, and blew everyone away. When they stopped because the stage was starting to get a bit wavy in Harvard Stadium, there was a riot, and they came back out to calm everybody down.

Doyle Weigold · From: CColumbia City, IN, USA

Thanks guys. I was with a band called Roscoe and the Green Men. We worked the Edison Hotel and Ronnie Hawkins worked the El Cocodor next door in Toronto Canada. We would go over on break and catch what we could, and for some reason they would come over to our club. Robbie was the first guy I saw that stretched strings. Remember this was 1959-60. I asked him about it and he told me to buy a 1st and 2nd banjo string and use a 2nd for a third, third for a fourth etc. I used this set up till they came out with light-guage strings. Fender 150's is what I ended up with. It sure left a lasting impression on me, and I never forgot them. A Pickin' Bro. Doyle

John Steele (deceased) · From: Renfrew, Ontario, Canada

I did a show at the Riverside Jam in Carleton Place, Ontario about 4 years ago, and Ronnie was there. He had just been presented with a Hall Of Fame award. I got the impression that, although he was performing, it was a comparatively rare occasion.
Steel player and forumite Al Brisco was Ronnie's bandleader for several years. Doyle, that would be after the time frame you mentioned, although I couldn't tell you exactly when.
I believe Ronnie lives in the Peterborough, Ontario area.
-John

Joey Ace · From: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Ronnie almost died about five years ago.
He had pancreatic cancer, and the doctors could do no more.

To their shock, he made a complete recovery.

The rumor is his fans sent him all kinds of unorthodox cures, some not strictly legal. No one knows what cured him, but he beat it.

His performances are rare, as would be expected of a man born in 1935.

Neil Cotton, a band leader that I've played with for many years wrote the song "The Mayor Of Old Yonge Street" as a tribute to The Hawk.
You can hear it at:
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=492085

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