Testimony

Robbie Robertson’s Testimony is a book of memories and wonders, a personal testament of a magical time in American music from someone who was there, at the centre of it all, playing and casting spells and writing songs that helped define those great lost years. There’s history here, and anecdote, regret and reminiscence, a long fond look back at the trials and triumphs of finding your voice then holding your ground. The tone is easy, conversational, like reminiscing with a friend about things you never realized you were part of too. Robbie brings you along with him, keeps you right by his side first to last, just the way his songs do, drawing you close, spellbound by his easy sorcery. You can feel the music in every word. -- Martin Scorsese
[An] elegant, evocative memoir … Robertson was particularly suited to a supporting role, happiest pulling the strings in the background. It’s the perfect vantage point for a memoirist, and he makes the most of it … The first half of the book is a hugely atmospheric song of the road … Midway, Dylan hits the narrative like a firework tossed through a window … Robertson brings the chaos vividly to life … He tells it with style and affection, showing a keen eye for detail. * Mail on Sunday *
An entertaining and valuable description of a rock’n’roll apprenticeship punctuated by encounters with such historic figures as Sonny Boy Williamson, Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters. He casts light on a vital phase of Dylan’s career and, of course, on the history of the Band. * Guardian *
For real insight into a musical unit’s workings, it would be hard to beat the Canadian guitarist and songwriter Robbie Robertson’s Testimony…packed with fascinating anecdote. -- Neil McCormick * Telegraph *
'We’re deep into the golden age of the classic-rock memoir … Testimony ends when its author was still relatively young, but it ispacked with incident … His memoir isconfident and well oiled. At times it has the mythic sweep of an early Terrence Malick movie … Mr. Dylan blows into this memoir like a blazing tumbleweed … [Robbie Robertson's] writing iswonderfully perceptive. * New York Times *
Well, once I started, I couldn’t put it down. It is such a well-paced, well-structured narrative. Robertson's voice is powerful and strong. He has harnessed vivid language to a clean, elegant, writing style, and the sense of honesty, openness and completeness makes it so very compelling. The personal and the historic that he bears witness to is, of course, extraordinarily special. One of the best documents of our times. And one of the best books on rock 'n' roll ever written. -- Jann Wenner, co-founder and publisher of 'Rolling Stone' magazine
Nobody tells a story like Robbie Robertson. I can’t think of a memoir that is more compelling, fascinating or rich in history. Across every page you can feel his love, passion and musical genius. -- David Geffen
His strong point of view is offset by the tenderness he shows, and his stress on his own experience is set within a craftsman’s effort to tell the story whole . . . The voice comes through loud and clear … He keeps clear of big ideas and period clichés. Instead, he offers his story — his side of the story — in scene after scene . . . There’s so much sound and colour here that the self-exculpating scenes fit right in, vivid and convincing . . . Testimony is high-spirited, hugely enjoyable and generous from start to finish. * The New York Times Book Review *
Robbie Robertson fancies himself as a storyteller, with good reason. His ability to conjure a mythic America on such songs as the Civil War-inspired ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’ testifies to a remarkable imagination ... As with many music autobiographies, it is the formative years that are the most revealing. Theon-the-road tales with The Hawks are a rollicking read, full of youthful exuberance and a sense of discovery ... The fledgling Band members – musical equals at this point – are larger-than-life characters ... The style is fluid and pacy, with a cinematographer’s eye for detail. He also enjoys telling a thousand tales with an ever-expanding cast list. There are funny vignettes involving Bo Diddley, Roy Buchanan, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Tiny Tim, Salvadore Dali, Edie Sedgwick and Richard Pryor, to name but a few ... At the very moment you fear Robertson might be losing sense of what makes his story so important, he retrieves the narrative threads and provides a sustained and gripping account of The Band’s collaboration with Dylan during the recording of The Basement Tapes at the Big Pink house in West Saugerties. This is riveting stuff ... He has too much class ever to fall into kiss-and-tell mode and is understandably protective of his reputation ... He closes the book...with a eulogistic account of The Last Waltz. It is a great, uplifting finale. -- Johnny Rogan * Irish Times *
In Testimony the voice is not in question. Robust, wry, gritty and wise to the vicissitudes of a career in rock 'n' roll, it is just what the reader wants ... Mr Robertson captures the rhythm of rock's mystery train, even in its final lurch to the terminal ... Mr Robertson bears witness to his life in music ... A steel-trap memory and a muddled childhood and you have the makings of a Dickensian bildungsroman ... A bible of road lore, a lurid coming-of-age story that veers wildly between the sweet and the brutal and a how-not-to guide to running a band ... As for Mr Dylan, a key attraction, the book offers a refreshing account ... Here is by far the fullest first-person account of the early electric tours of Mr Dylan ... The account of Mr Dylan's 1966 motorcycle accident is refreshingly lucid, as is that of the subsequent making of The Basement Tapes ... Here Testimony becomes a testimonial, and the effect is redemptive. Generosity suits him, and whatever the truth, Testimony is a graceful epitaph. * Wall Street Journal *