Jamie Malanowski

77 WAYS TO PLAY `THE WEIGHT’

Having spent the better part of three years thinking and writing about Levon Helm, I have inevitably also devoted a lot of thought to The Weight, the mournful, elegiac, mysterious, inscrutable song written by Robbie Robertson and made famous by The Band. Somehow over the years, it evolved from a simple if elusive pop song to an existential hymn. Imbued by the grace that radiated from Levon as he stoically faced the struggles of his final decade, the song has acquired a larger dimension. In singing it, out loud and usually in company, we embrace the song’s lesson: to to accept the weight, to carry it without self-pity or terror, but with joy. In this list, many, many artists offer themselves to the song; it’s q quite beautiful to grasp that it has come to mean so much.

1.The Band at Woodstock

2. Easy Rider
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpH6u4skHLk

3.The Staples Singers

4. The Grateful Dead
http://Gww.youtube.com/watch?v=XWL4JH5OGB0

5.Levon Helm and Richie Havens

6. The Wallflowers and Eric Clapton

7. Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White

8. Weezer

9. Emmylou Harris and friends

10. The Decoys

11. Warren Haynes and Dr. John

12. Grant Lee Philipd and Avid McMullin

13. Trampled by Turtles

14. The Band at the Isle of Wight Festival
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU0kknHmVeY

15. Gillian Welch and the Old Crow Medicine Show

16. Bruce Springsteen

17. The Punch Brothers

18. Waylon Jennings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhjU1fa2iYA

19. Little Feat

20. Mavis Staples, Nick Lowe and Wilco in rehearsal

21. Mavis Staples, Nick Lowe and Wilco performance

22. Eddie from Ohio

23. Train, Gavin DeGraw et al

24. Mad Driving Barons

25. Mumford and Sons

26. Black Keys and John Fogarty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfXcnX8STqU

27. The Levon Helm Band at the Ryman

28. The Ringo Starr All-Starr Band

29. The Band at the New Orleans Jazz Festival
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNZn-7DL5nY

30. Jimmie Barnes

31. Tragically Hip and Kathleen Edwards

32. Jensen Ackles

33. Uncle Tupelo

34. The Lumineers

35. The Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssPYiXU

36. Aretha Franklin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wta5GU3FNhA

37. James Maddock and Willie Nile

38. Lee Anne Womack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odgGa6rXL3I

39. Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem

40. Levon Helm, John Anderson, Vasser Clements
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57sHr07klZk

41. Cheers Elephant

42. A Group Called Smith

43. James Dieffenbach and the Duke’s Men
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVVYIJ4CKiQ

44. Levon Helm and Elvis Costello
http://www.youtube.c/watch?v=uyXOjiVhH5U

45. The Band on Letterman

46. Sue Cunningham et al

47. At Merlefest

48. Conan O’brien

49. King Curtis

51. Levon Helm and Wilco

52. The Fundamentals

53. Nic Mingie

54. Vagabonds

55. Panic in the disco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYbWsJQmMss56

56. Mumford et al

57. Allman, Weir, Tedeschi

58. The Band and clapton
http://www.youtubEric C.com/watch?v=vElZF9K06e0

59. Bucket List

60. Half Dead Music

61. Mavis Staples and Billy Bragg

62. Levon Helm, John Hiatt, Mark Colie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDITKSVNJz8

63. The Chambers Bros

64. Spooky Tooth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRw1uae6m58

65. The Levon Helm Band and the Black Crows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJz7YhnSFUc

66. Travis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIJY61nAOqc

67. Eddie Vedder

68. The River and the Road & Dogwood and Dahlia

69. The Last Waltz Revisted

70. Jim James and the Levon Helm Band

71.Cassandra Wilson

72. rocKwiz

73. Bob Dylan, Jeff Tweedy et al on the 2013 Americanarama Tour

74. The Band The Last Waltz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjCw3-YTffo

75. Love for Levon finale

76. The Grammy Awards tribute
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yunfRRZXRuc

77A. Gentlemen of the Road

77B. The Levon Helm Band

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