Robertson was a different kind of rock icon

Robbie Robertson was different.He was an incredible guitarist who often avoided solos in his songs.He was a Canadian who wrote some of the most compelling lyrics about American history and culture.Though he wrote story songs that at times would stretch for five minutes or longer, he once said his favorite songs were more basic, like Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman".Robertson was also someone with a tremendous artistic voice, but didn't have much of a singing voice.His songs with his incredible group — The Band — almost always featured the other members on lead vocal.Robertson died last week at 80.He was best known as the lead guitarist and primary songwriter for The Band, a Canadian-based group that got its start in the '50s as a backing band for Ronnie Hawkins.At that time, the group was known as The Hawks. Robertson was the lead guitarist, with Rick Danko on bass, Richard Manuel on piano, Garth Hudson on organ and Levon Helm (the only American) on drums.After splitting from Hawkins, the Band was then hired to back up Bob Dylan on his 1966 world tour. It's easy to say that Robertson likely learned a ton from Dylan about songwriting, and he probably did.But at the same time, Robertson developed his own style. By the time The Band was recording "Music From The Big Pink" in 1967, Robertson had found himself as a songwriter. His songs like "The Weight" were similar to Dylan's work, and in fact, The Band covered some Dylan songs for the album.But Robertson's sense of melody, and his ability to combine that with the imagination of a novelist, put him in a class by himself.It also helped that in Danko, Manuel and Helm, The Band had three beautiful, expressive voices to bring the songs to life. On The Band's self-titled follow-up record, Robertson was rolling, creating songs like "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," "King Harvest" and "Jawbone."Helm's vocals especially made the songs stand out. His voice on "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" — a song about the final days of the Confederacy as told by a southerner — gave the sensitive topic an authenticity.Musically, Helm and Robertson complemented each other perfectly. Offstage, there was tension. By the time of Martin Scorsese's concert film "The Last Waltz," the two were barely speaking.Helm was very critical of Robertson in his memoirs. A lot of the anger seemed to be over writing credits — Robertson got the lion's share of the songwriting royalties — and Helm felt that while Robertson wrote the songs, the group brought them together.Helm also wrote that The Band always made sure Robertson's microphone was off during live performances, so his voice — or lack of a voice — wouldn't ruin performances.Knowing that did kind of ruin "The Last Waltz" for me. You see Robertson singing passionately into the mic, doing backup vocals, and then find out little was being heard.It kind of takes away from it.The gulf between Robertson and Helm lasted decades, though Robertson paid tribute to Helm and visited him just before his death in 2012.The Band split in the 1970s, though it reunited later — though never with Robertson.Following The breakup of The Band, Robertson began a long collaboration with Scorsese, working on scores for his films.He even did some acting.But his songs, and the group, will always be his legacy.A different legacy. Baker is sports editor of The Courier.