Testimony
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Testimony Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Robbie Robertson (Author), MacLeod Andrews (Narrator), Random House Audio (Publisher)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 2,897 ratings
Editors' pick Best Biographies & Memoirs
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New York TImes best seller

On the 40th anniversary of The Band's legendary The Last Waltz concert, Robbie Robertson finally tells his own spellbinding story of the band that changed music history, his extraordinary personal journey, and his creative friendships with some of the greatest artists of the last half-century.

Robbie Robertson's singular contributions to popular music have made him one of the most beloved songwriters and guitarists of his time. With songs like "The Weight", "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", and "Up on Cripple Creek", he and his partners in The Band fashioned a music that has endured for decades, influencing countless musicians.

In this captivating memoir, written over five years of reflection, Robbie Robertson employs his unique storyteller's voice to weave together the journey that led him to some of the most pivotal events in music history. He recounts the adventures of his half-Jewish, half-Mohawk upbringing on the Six Nations Indian Reserve and on the gritty streets of Toronto; his odyssey at 16 to the Mississippi Delta, the fountainhead of American music; the wild early years on the road with rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks; his unexpected ties to the Cosa Nostra underworld; the gripping trial-by-fire "going electric" with Bob Dylan on his 1966 world tour and their ensuing celebrated collaborations; and the formation of The Band and the forging of their unique sound, culminating with history's most famous farewell concert, brought to life for all time in Martin Scorsese's great movie The Last Waltz.

This is the story of a time and place - the moment when rock 'n' roll became life, when legends like Buddy Holly and Bo Diddley crisscrossed the circuit of clubs and roadhouses from Texas to Toronto, when The Beatles, Hendrix, The Stones, and Warhol moved through the same streets and hotel rooms. It's the story of exciting change as the world tumbled through the '60s and early '70s and a generation came of age built on music, love, and freedom. Above all it's the moving story of the profound friendship between five young men who together created a new kind of popular music.

Testimony is Robbie Robertson's story, lyrical and true, as only he could tell it.

Previous page
  1. Listening Length
    18 hours and 38 minutes
  2. Author
    Robbie Robertson
  3. Narrator
    MacLeod Andrews
  4. Audible release date
    November 15, 2016
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Random House Audio
  7. ASIN
    B01KKO30XE
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 18 hours and 38 minutes
Author Robbie Robertson
Narrator MacLeod Andrews
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date November 15, 2016
Publisher Random House Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B01KKO30XE
Best Sellers Rank #61,947 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#302 in Music (Audible Books & Originals)
#498 in Rock Band Biographies
#755 in Rich & Famous Biographies

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
2,897 global ratings
Genius Flawed
5 Stars
Genius Flawed
Robbie Robertson can write anything - songs( great !) non-fiction ( excellent ) RR tells of his growing up and his side of the story of The Band. Always so interesting to read how UNglamorous fame ALWAYS turns out to be. Robbie Robertson would qualify for any songwriting hall of fame on the strength of "Up On Cripple Creek" and heaven itself for "The Weight" - Great artists are complex people - RR is no exception. He slowly drives a shiv into the ribs ( in these pages) of the man who made his lyrics come to life, Levon Helm as repayment for Levon's kvetching about publishing royalties in his memoir "This Wheel's On Fire". RR technically owed no one in The Band for his (RR's) publishing-writing income over the years (millions of dollars) but as all the other Band members got old and broke, one imagines that the member smart enough to "HOLD ON TO YOUR PUBLISHING !!!" would have shared more of the wealth. Without Levon's vocals( or the contributions of any and all of the other Band members) RR's songs would have languished in the middle of a vast army of popular talent in the 1960s-1970s. With Levon's and the other's gifts RR's songs rose to stratospheric heights of global acclaim. One is left with a feeling of a scrappy, shrewd, sublime talent with a greedy, vengeful streak.
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Top reviews from the United States

Patricia Hosmer
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! What an absolute treat!
Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2017
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I was born in 1967, so the first time I really listened to The Band was in my friend Martin Boney's room on vinyl in college. Martin had an older brother who had introduced him to The Band and other great music that went deeper than what the rest of our group of friends had listened to up to that point (except maybe Cory's knowledge of the Stones' catalogue). Reading Testimony gave me the same thrill as hearing The Band for the first time with Bones. It's incredibly rich and well written and demystifies a band and an era that holds a legendary, almost mythical, status in such an honest, humble, matter-of-fact way that it conveys a natural flow to what seemed an impossible story. What else would you expect from a great song writer and wordsmith like Robbie Robertson?! Because Testimony is the story of Robbie Robertson, it's not just the story of The Band as he lived it but the story of an amazing crossroads of rock and roll as he experienced it. Along the way, the reader is treated to stories about relationships and encounters with Dylan, Hendrix, The Beatles, Clapton, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters and so many other musicians, actors and characters along Robbie's journey of musical and personal discovery. Robbie also weaves in personal stories of falling in love with his wife and raising children together amidst everything else that was happening in his life that make him an oddly grounded and relatable family man.

Basically, Testimony is an honest account of the good, the bad and the ugly of a period in one interesting man's life, so it would be an enjoyable read for anyone. Because that man happened to be at the epicenter of The Band and The Band thrived in such an incredible juncture in rock and roll history, Testimony would be a great read for anyone interested in a damn good story about rock and roll.

For me, I came late to the party that was The Band. I was fortunate to see "The Band" play several times without Robbie, and it broke my heart that Robbie refused to play with the other members. Having read Testimony... I get it now. The Band's music is such a part of the fabric of my life, that in some ways reading Testimony was cathartic for me in that I'm finally at peace with Robbie's decision (not that I really needed to be for his sake or mine, but still) and can now enjoy the music without that mental baggage lurking beneath the surface. I can't wait to play through The Band's albums in chronological order and watch The Last Waltz against the backdrop of what I know now! -Hoz
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Cosmic Sojourner
5.0 out of 5 stars Robbie Robertson's Brilliant Chronicle of the Band
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2018
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This is a fantastic tour de force, a journey down memory lane and a brilliant bit of musical history. Anyone who read "This Wheel's On Fire" by Levon Helm would feel a bit of animosity towards Robbie. There are two side to every story and Robbie has now had his chance to describe what the ride on the wheel of fire was like. With wit and a deft turn of phrase this book vividly relates the stress and elation of what it was like to be in the most influential band in modern American musical history. He is a compelling story teller and brings a backstage musician's perspective to life on the road with Bob Dylan and a bevy of other musical savants. It's impossible to read this book and not dash home and crank up Music From Big Pink, Rock of Ages, or The Last Waltz. Eric Clapton quit Cream and showed up at Big Pink wanting to be in the Band, Duane Allman said Robbie Robertson was his favorite guitar player and Elton John's song Levon was a tribute to Levon Helm. For those of us drenched by rain at Watkins Glen who witnessed the clouds part and the sun come out when the Band began to play, oh boy ,this book brings back some memories. Turn off the TV, throw your IPhone and your laptop out the window and ride your bike to your local bookstore and treat yourself to a blast from the past.
"Boards on the window, mail by the door, why would anyone leave so quickly for, Ophelia, please come back home"
The ride takes you thru the early days of Ronnie and the Hawks, through the tumultuous Bob Dylan goes electric tour to the final grand finale at Fillmore West Thanksgiving night 1976 in San Francisco. What a ride. Kudos to Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel.
Thanks for the memories and some of the greatest music of our time.
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SKooLBoY jiM
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Read with a Few Caveats
Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2017
Verified Purchase
I'm not a huge Band fan. I was most interested in his stories about the early years with Ronnie Hawkins: Junior Parker, Bo Diddley and many others. You have to keep in mind that this is Robbie Robertson's view of those years, not necessarily the truth. He is a more than capable storyteller, but I found a lot of the passages to have a "re-creation" quality. He uses a lot of quotation marks when recalling events. Are we to believe that he remembers things (often very specific) people said to such a degree that he is actually putting them in quotations? I don't read many autobiographies, so maybe this is a common literary device for the genre.

There is certainly artistic license going on here. Just like a documentary film: it's almost impossible to separate the truth from the point of view.
But Robertson was certainly in the right place at the right time, and he certainly was primarily responsible for pushing the Band into new and inventive spaces. I enjoyed the name-dropping. It's not from Robertson's vanity as I'm sure some would claim but out of his respect for the other artists he obviously admired and the reader. Of course we want to hear about all of the talented and amazing personalities he rubbed shoulders with. The anecdotes are amazing! Robertson seemed to be the only one in the band with the awareness to spread his tentacles far and wide. His interest in film and literature led him to rub shoulders with all kinds of amazing personalities that I am guessing wasn't the case with the other members (don't know, haven't read anything else on the Band).

So whether the Band members begged Robertson to buy out their publishing like he briefly claims or whether the truth is something more complicated I have no idea. Even from Robertson's telling of the story as my only source of info., I believe that he could have never written those hit songs without the other members. Whether they actually contributed words and notes is unclear, but their voices and their around-the-clock availability should have secured their economic futures as well. It was an incubator that those songs came out of, and while Robertson should have the lion's share, the others should have been give points or some kind of songwriting credit. It's the same story as the Swampers or other studio musicians who made invaluable contributions that didn't translate to economic value.

Robertson was smart enough to see the future (his main strength professionally) and not want to spend the 80's on playing the same hits to smaller audiences. Luckily he had the economic security to avoid that grim reality. The others maybe not so much.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Stephen Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book !
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 2, 2024
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Loved this book, it's so well written.
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Claudio Decastelli
5.0 out of 5 stars come nasceva il rock quando il rock è nato
Reviewed in Italy on January 10, 2024
Verified Purchase
robertson racconta di un'epoca in cui suonare rock e inventarlo erano la stessa cosa, in cui suonarlo era anche viverlo a tempo pieno. racconta anche di una storia, la sua e quella della band, finita bene, nel senso di finita con il successo, anche se poi i destini individuali dei musicisti sono stati un'altra cosa. e' un film che passa attraverso un periodo d'oro per la cultura e l'industria che giravano attorno al nascente rock, in cui compare dylan quasi come co-pratagonista (ed e' solo bob) e hanno piccole parti pezzi di storia del blues e altri musicisti e artisti ora considerati leggenda. da leggere anche se non si amano the band e roberton
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Timo
5.0 out of 5 stars Aventuras
Reviewed in Spain on May 3, 2022
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La vida de Robertson es como una historia de aventuras y como tal está contada. De forma muy amena nos explica cómo nació su preciosa música. Imprescindible si te gusta el artista y/o las aventuras.
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Kavin
5.0 out of 5 stars love this book
Reviewed in India on July 1, 2021
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story telling aspect of this book is just amazing
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rotmanpr
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best memoirs
Reviewed in Canada on February 25, 2018
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Having read Eric Clapton and Keith Richard’s memoirs, I was most moved by Robbie Robertson’s. He’s not as much of a household word but his association with Ronnie Hawkins as the Hawks, with Bob Dylan as his band and on his own The Band’s songwriter and guitarist, Robertson spanned several lifetimes of rock n’ roll and seems to have come out relatively unscathed by the rock demons of drugs and alcohol unlike Clapton and Richards and his bandmates Richard Manuel and Rick Danko. He loved music from an early age and left Toronto as a 16 year old, linking up with Hawkins in Arkansas, encountering Levon Helm, and gradually having the other band members coalesce around the Hawk. Writing songs from an early age, not all of them remembered, he subsequently became the writer of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and other Americana gems, despite being a half-Native half-Jewish Canadian. He met everyone, everywhere, was instrumental in Bob Dylan’s career and earned the admiration of Clapton and George Harrison, too. He has detailed recollections of everything from seminal blues performances, Woodstock, the Isle of Wight festival backing Dylan among other key performances, ending with the Martin Scorsese film, The Last Waltz. Canadians will appreciate Robertson’s recollections of Toronto and Montreal, through his wife, and Ontario from Manuel, Danko and the now 80 year old Garth Hudson. The writing is a tour de force and as all the music is on line, the reader can accompany the text with selections from his storied career. I wished there were more of this story. An excellent book.
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