RENAISSANCE MAN
ROBBIE ROBERTSON watched his life flash before his eyes. Literally. In September, the documentary Once Were Brothers, about the legendary Canuck rocker’s childhood and rise to stardom with The Band, opened the Toronto International Film Festival – a first for a Canadian doc – mere blocks from where a teenage Robbie honed his musical craft in clubs on Yonge Street.
“It’s kind of full circle isn’t it?” the 76-year-old laughs. “Everybody used to say, ‘That’s not going to happen, but it’s nice that you dream.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t understand why you can’t imagine this because I can’t stop imagining it.’”
And now, at an age when many contemporaries are plotting out retirement tours, Robertson is enjoying something of a career renaissance. It began with his hit 2016 memoir Testimony, which formed the basis for Once Were Brothers – which boasts an all-star roster of executive producers including Robertson’s buddy Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of The Band’s eponymous sophomore album, the famed follow-up to their debut, Music From Big Pink (which turned 50 last year). But while Robertson appreciates the accolades, he admits, “I don’t spend that much time reliving stuff.”
That’s partly because he’s been busy at work scoring Scorsese’s November film release The Irishman – the 10th Scorsese film Robertson’s handled the music for – while preparing his first album of new songs since 2011, Sinematic, available now.
“I don’t feel any different than I felt ... when I was making Music From Big Pink,” Robertson says. “I’m just going in there and trying to make some kind of a noise that really excites me, that makes me feel emotional, that makes me feel tough – all of these elements that add up in music from where I’m coming from.”
All of which begs the question of whether a young Robbie ever imagined he’d remain so relevant at 76.
“I wasn’t thinking, ‘One of these days, when I’ve been living three-quarters of a century, I’m going to make a hell of a record; they’re going to do a documentary about me … I’m going to be working on one of the greatest movies of the year; they’re going to be releasing an album on the 50th anniversary of a record that I made 50 years earlier that changed the course of music’ – all this sh*t,” he laughs. “I had no idea. You just get up in the morning and you look out and say, ‘Wow, the sun’s shining. What kind of magic can we make today?’” —MC
Once Were Brothers is in select theatres now. For our full interview with Robertson, go to www.everythingzoomer.com/robbie-robertson.
“I’m just going in there and trying to make some kind of a noise that really excites me”