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Books & Documentaries

Books

This Wheel's on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of the Band (Levon Helm with Stephen Davis, 1993). Helm's own account, blunt and unsparing about the songwriting dispute with Robertson. The place to start for his side of the story.

Testimony: A Memoir (Robbie Robertson, 2016). Robertson's own account, considerably more detailed than Helm's in places, and the basis for the documentary Once Were Brothers. Best read as a counterpoint to Helm's book rather than a replacement for it.

Across the Great Divide: The Band and America (Barney Hoskyns, 1993, revised edition since). An outside journalist's account rather than a member's memoir, widely regarded as the most balanced single history of the group.

Levon: From Down in the Delta to the Birth of the Band and Beyond (Sandra B. Tooze). A more recent, thoroughly researched biography that draws on original interviews with Helm and fills in detail his own memoir left out, particularly around his drumming technique and his final decades.

Last Waltz: The Full Story of The Band (Craig Harris). A deep, detail-heavy account built on original interviews, including with figures who rarely spoke publicly about the group.

Richard Manuel: His Life and Music, from the Hawks and Bob Dylan to The Band (Stephen T. Lewis). The only book-length biography focused specifically on Manuel, the member with the least written about him elsewhere.

Documentaries and film

The Last Waltz (1978, directed by Martin Scorsese). The essential film, covered in full on The Last Waltz & Breakup.

Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band (2019, directed by Daniel Roher). Built on Robertson's memoir, executive produced by Scorsese, Ron Howard, and Brian Grazer. Tells the story largely through Robertson's own perspective, since Helm, Danko, and Manuel were all gone by the time it was made and Hudson chose not to participate substantially.

Reading Helm's and Robertson's books together, in either order, gives a more complete picture than either one gives alone.