Garth Hudson, the Canadian multi-instrumentalist whose compositions formed the bedrock for The Band‘s definitive roots sound, has died. He was 87.

The executor of Hudson’s estate confirmed his death to the Toronto Star, stating that the keyboardist, saxophonist, and last remaining member of The Band passed away peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday morning at a nursing home in Woodstock, NY.

Born in Windsor, Ontario as Eric Hudson on August 2nd, 1937, Garth was classically trained in music theory, harmony, and counterpoint. He wrote his first song at 11 and by 12 he was playing professionally with dance bands. In 1961, he was approached by singer Ronnie Hawkins to join his backing band, an offer Hudson originally declined until agreeing to join on two conditions: Hawkins buy him a Lowrey organ and pay him an extra $10 a week to give music lessons to his fellow bandmates in The Hawks. With that, Hudson joined the lineup of guitarist Robbie Robertson, bassist Rick Danko, and keyboardist Richard Manuel from Canada along with Arkansas drummer Levon Helm.

Within two years of near-constant live performing across the United States and Canada, The Hawks had outgrown Ronnie Hawkins and ventured out on their own. In 1965, Bob Dylan approached The Hawks and ultimately recruited them to record what would become 1966’s Blonde on Blonde and join him on his controversial electric world tour. Robertson—who passed away in 2023 and was much more prone to interviews than the soft-spoken Hudson—described getting booed on stage every night as a liberating experience.

“We knew we were getting better all the time. We just had to play to each other. Bob didn’t budge. The world was wrong and we were right,” Robertson told Guitar.com and expanded further to SiriusXM, “Usually in a case like this, you would say, ‘You know what? The audience isn’t really gravitating toward this. Maybe we should change some things.’ No! It was called just play louder and faster and everything. And it was kind of like a rebellion.”

Through those experiences (and playing as a backing band for five years), the group developed the fortitude to find something that was theirs and stick to it. Moving to Woodstock, NY in the late ’60s, the group took on the name The Band—a tongue-in-cheek callback to their time as sidemen—and proceeded to lay the foundation for what became “Americana” music of the next half-century.

At the dawn of the ’70s as the rock n’ roll upheaval was in full swing, The Band returned to the time-honored folk traditions of the United States. While the music industry was looking for the latest innovation, these five guys who look like Civil War recreationists moved to the country and found the roots of American popular music. In The Band’s early days, there was an almost competitive spirit between the principal songwriters Robertson, Danko, and Manuel, but at the basis of their lyrics and tunes were Hudson’s compositions. Despite (or perhaps because of) Hudson’s musical genius, he knew his limits and would be the only member of The Band to never sing onstage or on any of their albums.

“It was a job,” Hudson said in a rare interview with Maclean’s in 2003, minimizing his impact. “Play a stadium, play a theater. My job was to provide arrangements with pads underneath, pads and fills behind good poets. Same poems every night.”

Beginning with 1968’s Music From Big Pink, The Band started a roots rock revolution in the United States. Critical and commercial success followed with a self-titled album the following year, with The Band issuing a new album every year from 1968 to 1973. The mid-1970s saw The Band hit the zenith of its commercial success, including the record-setting Summer Jam concert with the Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers Band, which brought over 600,000 fans to Watkins Glen, NY in the summer of 1973. The following year, The Band reconvened with Bob Dylan for a two-month arena tour—immortalized on ’74’s Before the Flood. This marked Dylan’s first full tour since 1966 and the audience response was tremendous, with one estimate showing that more than seven percent of the entire U.S. population submitted mail orders for tickets.

That tremendous output, coupled with worsening substance abuse issues throughout the group, put an enormous strain on The Band. Robertson had all but assumed sole songwriting duties for the group, and even a custom-designed studio in Malibu—Shangri-La, which now belongs to production guru Rick Rubin—couldn’t save The Band from declining album sales and diminishing creative output. After some 15 years of playing together, The Band took its final bows on Thanksgiving night 1976 at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom. The star-studded, marathon concert included guest appearances by Neil Young, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Dr. John, Ronnie Hawkins, and a surprise appearance by Bob Dylan. The concert was filmed by Robertson’s friend Martin Scorsese and became The Last Waltz, one of the most iconic concert films of all time.

The post-Last Waltz years saw Hudson become an in-demand session musician, working with Elton John, Van Morrison, Emmylou Harris, Leonard Cohen, and more. His first solo album, Music for Our Lady Queen of the Angels, arrived in 1980 and served as the soundtrack for a special exhibition at the Los Angeles Museum of Science and Industry. In 1983, The Band reformed with all original members except Robertson but saw reduced popularity and played in theaters and clubs, or supported their peers like the Grateful Dead and Crosby, Stills, & Nash.

For the next 40 years, Hudson witnessed the tragedy of The Band unfold. Following a concert by The Band in Winter Park, FL on March 4th, 1986, pianist Richard Manuel hanged himself in his motel room at the age of 42. Bassist Rick Danko would follow in 1999, dying of heart failure in his sleep at 55. Though Helm and Hudson lived on, the 21st century saw their share of troubles for the two. A bout with throat cancer in the late 1990s temporarily took Helm’s singing voice, and the treatment costs left him nearly destitute. By 2002, with his home in foreclosure, Hudson had to declare bankruptcy for a third time and sold his remaining financial stake in The Band to Robertson.

Despite his financial burdens, Hudson persisted as a recording and performing musician through the 2000s. Throughout the decade he played with Neko Case, John Hiatt, the North Mississippi All-Stars, and even reunited with Ronnie Hawkins. In 2010 he organized Garth Hudson Presents: A Canadian Celebration of the Band, featuring prominent Canadian artists covering the band with Hudson on every track, with contributions by Neil Young, Bruce Cockburn, Cowboy Junkies, Blue Rodeo, and others. Hudson also served as archivist for Dylan’s 2014 archival release featuring The Band, The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes, which took home a Grammy for Best Historical Album.

Hudson made his last public appearance on April 16th, 2023 for a surprise performance of Duke Ellington‘s “Sophisticated Lady” at the Flower Hill House Concert in Kingston, NY.

A reluctant interview subject who took his time and chose his words carefully, Garth Hudson once said, “I found some true enjoyment in helping people get to the bottom of their feelings.”

Celebrate the life of Garth Hudson with this jam featuring Hudson, Helm, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Dr. John, Ronnie Wood, Ringo Starr, and Paul Butterfield that was (for some reason) cut from The Last Waltz.

Garth Hudson, Levon Helm, Neil Young, Ronnie Wood, Eric Clapton, Dr. John, Paul Butterfield. Ringo Starr, Stephen Stills, Carl Radle — Jam — 11/25/86

[Video: Just A Account]