All About The Band Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Drifting Cowboys

The Band was originally formed to back rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins. After separating from Hawkins, the group typically went by the name of Levon Helm and The Hawks, but they also recorded a 1996 single ("Leave Me Alone" / "Uh-Uh-Uh") under the name of the Canadian Squires.

When they backed Bob Dylan for his early 1968 concert tribute to Woody Guthrie, they went by the name of The Crackers. Their original recording contract at Capitol listed their name as The Crackers, but the record label wasn't pleased with the name. The group was referred to casually and locally as "the band" by various musicians as well as locals, and eventually the name stuck. They released their first album under the name of The Band in July of 1968.

The Drifting Cowboys backed country singer Hank Williams.

Answer: Bob Dylan

The album title takes its name from the house, "Big Pink," which three of the band members shared in Saugerties, New York and in which the album was partially composed. Dylan contributed a cover painting for the work which depicts six musicians. While Dylan contributed the artwork, Milton Glaser designed the sleeve and Elliott Landy took the photographs. Though sales of the album were not robust, it was well reviewed in "Rolling Stone."

Answer: Chest Fever

This song relates the story of man who is spurned by the woman he loves and becomes sick as a consequence. The music was written by Robbie Robertson, though there is some debate over whether the lyrics were improvised by Levon Helm and Richard Manuel.

The song is frequently described as belonging to the acid rock or psychedelic rock genre. "Rolling Stone" quoted Robbie Robertson as saying, "It's kind of a hard love song, but it's a reversal on that old rock & roll thing where they're always telling the girl, 'He's a rebel, he'll never be any good.' This time, it's the other way around."

Answer: Before the Flood

"Before the Flood" was the first live album Bob Dylan released, though many earlier recordings would be released in later years. The album hit number three on the Billboard 200 chart. It included songs written by Dylan as well as some written by members of The Band. The Band also backed Dylan on "Planet Waves," but it was not a live album and did not include any of those songs.

Answer: Northern Lights - Southern Cross

"Northern Lights - Southern Cross" was The Band's sixth studio album, and all of the songs on the album were originals written by Robbie Robertson. The album included such songs as "Acadian Driftwood," "It Makes No Difference," and "Ophelia," all three of which were also performed live at "The Last Waltz."

"Moondog Matinee" was The Band's fifth studio album, and it consisted entirely of cover material.

"Blood on the Tracks" and "Oh Mercy" were Bob Dylan albums, without The Band.

Answer: Garth Hudson

The original five members of The Band were Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, and Garth Hudson.

Richard Bell was a former pianist for Janis Joplin and her Full Tilt Boogie Band and served as the keyboardist for The Band in the 1990s. Randy Ciarlante began playing drums for the band in 1990. Jim Weider was one of the first guitarists to join The Band after its reformulation, and he soon became lead guitarist.

Answer: Jubilation

Released in 1998, "Jubilation" was the Band's tenth and last studio album. Eric Clapton played on one of the songs, "Last Train to Memphis." It included such songs as "Kentucky Downpour," "Don't Wait," and "High Cotton."

Answer: The Basement Tapes

"The Basement Tapes" includes sixteen tracks recorded in 1967, though it was not released until 1975, as Bob Dylan's 16th studio album. Overdubs were later added to these songs. The album also includes eight songs recorded solely by The Band at various locations from 1967 to 1975.

Answer: Winterland Ballroom

The concert was held on Thanksgiving Day in 1976 in Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The documentary was released in 1978. Also in 1978, a triple-LP soundtrack recording was released. The concert was organized and promoted by Bill Graham. The guest list began with Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan, but soon grew from there to include numerous other big name musicians.

Answer: Van Morrison

The song begins:

"The management said they were sorry
For the inconvenience you are suffering
And Mr. Booking Agent, please have mercy
Don't book the jobs so far apart."

Van Morrison, well known for his songs "Moondance" and "Brown Eyed Girl," co-wrote the song with Robertson. At the farewell concert for The Band, Van Morrison performed his own song "Caravan," backed by The Band, and also sung the Irish lullaby "Tura Lura Lura" with them.

Answer: Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Loretta Lynn

Pinetop Perkins played piano in a blues set that included Eric Clapton and Muddy Waters. Muddy Waters also performed "Caldonia" and "Mannish Boy." Mavis Staples was a guest who supplied vocals. Neil Diamond performed on "Dry Your Eyes" and Neil Young on "Helpless" and "Four Strong Winds." Dr. John performed "Such a Night," and Ronnie Hawkins "Who Do You Love?" Bob Dylan performed on several songs, including "Forever Young" and "Baby Let Me Follow You Down." Other guest musicians and singers included Emmylou Harris, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, and Ringo Starr.

Answer: This Wheel's On Fire

"If your mem'ry serves you well.
This wheel's on fire,
Rolling down the road,
Best notify my next of kin,
This wheel shall explode!"

Dylan and Danko co-wrote "This Wheel's On Fire," and The Band recorded it on their debut album. Most of the songs on "The Basement Tapes" were written by Bob Dylan, but "Ruben Remus" was co-written by Robbie Robertson and Richard Manuel.

"Maggie's Farm" is a Bob Dylan song not included on "The Basement Tapes." The songs "You Ain't Going Nowhere" and "Long Distance Operator" are on the album, but both were written by Dylan.

Answer: When I Paint My Masterpiece

The song continues:

"You can almost think that you're seeing double
On a cold, dark night on the Spanish Stairs."

It concludes:

"But someday everything's gonna be different
When I paint that masterpiece."

The Band was the first to release "When I Paint My Masterpiece" on its fourth studio album, "Cahoots," which was released in 1971. Dylan's version of the song can be found on his "Greatest Hits Volume II." Another version of the song, with slightly altered lyrics, can be found on "The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969-1971)."

Answer: Ophelia

This song was the lead single from "Northern Lights - Southern Cross," with "Hobo Jungle" on the B-Side. There has been some debate among music critics as to whether the song has anything to do with Shakespeare's Ophelia at all. Barney Hoskyns, in "Across the Great Divide: The Band and America" (2006) suggests that the name may have come, instead, from the Grand Ole Opry's Minnie Pearl, whose real name was Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon.

Answer: Tears of Rage

The song calls to mind Shakespeare's King Lear, who said, "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child." In Dylan and Manuel's song, the narrator asks, "Oh, what dear daughter 'neath the sun could treat her father so?" Though he may have carried her in his arms on Independence Day, the daughter has grown to reject her father's values: "We pointed you the way to go and scratched your name in sand / Though you just thought it was nothing more than a place for you to stand." While the song is, on its surface, about a father and child, some have argued that it goes deeper to address the divisions in society that occurred in the 1960s.

Answer: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Levon Helms provided lead vocals for this song, which was written by Robbie Robertson. Joan Baez's version, released as a single in 1971, peaked at number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Johnny Cash included his version of the song on his 1975 album "John R. Cash."

Music critic Rod Dreher writes, "If you can't feel the tragedy and the heartbreak of a poor, proud Southern man laid low in this song, friend, I cannot help you."

Answer: Mexico

These lines kick off "Up on Cripple Creek," a song on The Band's second album, "The Band," which was released in 1969. It was the B-Side to a single that included "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" on the A-side. "Up on Cripple Creek" peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Answer: The Weight

Despite never being a hit single for The Band, "The Weight" made the top 50 in "Rolling Stone" magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and was named as one of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll" by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

It was also voted The Band's number one song in the "Rolling Stone" poll. According to the magazine, "Robbie Robertson has said the lyrics were inspired by the surreal movies of Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel and aren't meant to be taken that seriously."

Answer: Acadian Driftwood

The Acadians were descendants of the French colonists who settled in Acadia (a separate colony of New France) in the 17th and 18th centuries. Some of these people were also descended from Indigenous peoples. During the French and Indian War, the British (along with American colonialists) deported over 11,000 Acadians from the region, believing them to have been aligned with the French. Historians have referred to this event as an "ethnic cleansing" of Arcadians. The Band's song on the subject begins:

"The war was over
And the spirit was broken
The hills were smokin'
As the men withdrew
We stood on the cliffs,
Oh and watched the ships,
Slowly sinking to their rendezvous
They signed a treaty
And our homes were taken
Loved-ones forsaken..."

This song was ranked number five in the "Rolling Stone" poll of the greatest Band songs.

Answer: shape

According to "Rolling Stone" magazine, when Robbie Robertson wrote the lyrics to "The Shape I'm In," he had Richard Manuel in mind, who sang the lead vocals for the song. "Many members of the group were drinking very heavily and taking hard drugs," the magazine reports, "particularly keyboardist Richard Manuel; he was a hopeless alcoholic and was making it very difficult for The Band to carry on normally." The lyrics to the song reflect this heavy drug and alcohol use:

"Out of nine lives, I spent seven
Now, how in the world do you get to Heaven
Oh, you don't know the shape I'm in."