Legacy & Influence

The Band's five studio albums between 1968 and 1975 reshaped what rock music was allowed to sound like, and the ripple effects reach into genres and artists that didn't exist yet when the group started. This section covers three threads of that story: The Americana Genre, the roots-music movement critics widely credit the group with founding decades before it had a name; Artists They Influenced, the direct line from Eric Clapton and George Harrison through to Wilco and My Morning Jacket; and The Songwriting Dispute, the unresolved argument over credit and money that shaped how the surviving members related to each other for the rest of their lives.