Courtesy of RobbieRobertson.com
Robbie Robertson, legendary songwriter and guitarist for the Band, just released 'How to Be Clairvoyant,' his first solo album in thirteen years and by far his most personal. On it, Robertson explores his tumultuous past -- including wild times with Ronnie Hawkins, drug-fueled partying with Martin Scorsese and breaking up the iconic Canadian rock group at the height of the Band's career -- with equal parts euphoria, nostalgia and reverence.
Robertson -- who will be inducted into Canada's Songwriters Hall of Fame this week, adding to an illustrious list of achievements including spots in both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Canadian Music Hall of Fame -- credits his contemporary Eric Clapton for his renewed interest in creating commercial music.
Robertson also reveals to Spinner the real reason the Band split and why he'd never rule out a reunion.
What inspired you to release 'How to Become Clairvoyant' after 13 years without an album?
It started out with Eric Clapton and I just hanging out and kicking around some ideas and telling stories, playing a little bit of guitar and writing a little tune together. We didn't have any particular purpose in mind, it's just that we'd known each other for a long time and that's what we do. We didn't really think about it much -- we were off doing other stuff -- and then I came back to it by accident a couple years later. I heard the stuff again and realized, 'Wow, we dug deeper than what I thought. Some of this sounds like the beginnings of something special.'
So I told Eric, and he invited me to come to London so that we could go into the studio and see if there was anything there. Turns out, because the
