R.i.P. Rompin' Ronnie Hawkins

[Ranald]

The great rockabilly singer, entertainer, and mentor to stars died recently. He was a wonderful storyteller with an outstanding memory. Ronnie, from Arkansas, was loved and will be missed in Canada, where he lived for most of his life. Ronnie, to the best of my knowledge, wasn't a mandolin player, but his protege, Levon, played mandolin on his song "Days Gone Bye."

Obituary article:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainmen...uary-1.6470162

"Days Gone By":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtLK...nnel=oleracoon




For Ronnie at his rockabilly best, see "Mary "Lou and "Who Do You Love" on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEg2...6Pictures1960s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYPV...hannel=plimfec

p.s., Just came across this great rockabilly concert celebrating Ronnie's 60th birthday, with Ronnie, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Jeff Healey, Lawrence Gowan, and others:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqnv...%B3Kasz%C3%A1s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI8r...%B3Kasz%C3%A1s

[journeybear]

Oh, geez! So sad to hear this. I don't know a whole lot of his music, and know him mostly because of his longstanding association with The Band. Worth noting that in that video other Band members Garth Hudson and the late Rick Danko are also shown. I think it's more correct to say "Levon Helm is shown playing mandolin in the video," because I don't hear it. It would fit in well, and I wish it were. It's a very Band-sounding song, very nice. I didn't know Ronnie was from Arkansas, like Levon; always thought of him as Canadian. I guess I could read up on him a bit, I'd learn about that and a lot of other things. Like Dale Hawkins ("Susie Q") was his cousin, and Roy Buchanan played on his recording of "Who Do You Love." And yes, The Hawks started out in Arkansas, and then moved to Toronto, including recent high school graduate Levon Helm. The other Band members drifted along later, one by one, not arriving in full until. 1961, lasting two years - though Levon was there for six years. The chronology of Hawks lineups is remarkable, lots and lots of changes, well-documented at wikipedia.

Of course, I'm familiar with his spot in "The Last Waltz," most likely the first time I ever saw him in action. The other vid is wild. He certainly was a character! And look at that young Levon on drums! Wow!

RIP, Ronnie Hawkins. Thanks for all the music and all you've done for us all.

[Kenny]

“Days Gone By“ is such a fitting song to feature. I recently played “Old Friends” (Roger Miller) for a neighbor who’s “on his way out” [his words] and he said that was the first time in weeks that he’s felt a bit better. I’m going to see if his son thinks he’s up for another visit and I’ll give him “Days Gone By.”

[Ranald]

I didn't know Ronnie was from Arkansas, like Levon; always thought of him as Canadian.

He and Levon came up here because there was many gigs with steady money to be made in south Ontario as opposed to the American South. I thought that state of affairs was long gone, but on the radio today, I heard Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine show, saying that when he used to live in Ithaca, NY (Cornell student?), he busked with musical friends. They'd travel to Ottawa, because of "toonies" (I wasn't in Ottawa then). People tend not to give paper money to buskers as it might blow away. In the U.S., the biggest coin anyone has is a quarter. In Canada, we can reach into our pocket for a loonie or a toonie, one and two dollar coins respectively. I guess there's still financial incentive for some American musicians to perform regularly here. By the way, one of Ronnie's favourite lines was, I didn't know anything about Canada. Back in Arkansas, I heard that Canada was primitive, but when I got to Burlington (Ontario, where he had a steady gig), I realized that Arkansas was primitive. (I've never been to Arkansas and have no opinion on the matter.)

[journeybear]

... one of Ronnie's favourite lines was, I didn't know anything about Canada. Back in Arkansas, I heard that Canada was primitive, but when I got to Burlington (Ontario, where he had a steady gig), I realized that Arkansas was primitive. (I've never been to Arkansas and have no opinion on the matter.)

Ha! Arkansas does get a rap for being primitive (relatively), fairly or unfairly. President Bill Clinton is from there, and whatever may be said about him, he was brilliant - Rhodes Scholar, Yale Law School graduate, and he "presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history," so sayeth the wiki. So it would seem there is hope. Indeed, Hope - his home town. Yes, it was a bit of a drive to get there, but I hope it was worth it.

[FLATROCK HILL]

I'd wager most folks from Razorback country would rather take credit for J.R. Cash...

[Ranald]

Ha! Arkansas does get a rap for being primitive (relatively), fairly or unfairly. President Bill Clinton is from there, and whatever may be said about him, he was brilliant - Rhodes Scholar, Yale Law School graduate, and he "presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history," so sayeth the wiki. So it would seem there is hope. Indeed, Hope - his home town. Yes, it was a bit of a drive to get there, but I hope it was worth it.

And Ronnie was an educated man for his time. From Wikipedia: "He had already formed his first band, the Hawks, when he graduated from high school in 1952, following which he studied physical education at the University of Arkansas, where he dropped out just a few credits short of graduation." He also played at Bill Clinton's Inauguration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vByfzpD89Jg



[QUOTE=journeybear;1867452]I think it's more correct to say "Levon Helm is shown playing mandolin in the video," because I don't hear it. It would fit in well, and I wish it were. It's a very Band-sounding song, very nice.[/URL]


Hmm… I think you’re right there. Now and then, I think I might hear a mandolin for a split second, but it’s probably a guitar. Here’s where I got my information, but it may be wrong (and if they sound like The Band, there’s a reason):


http://www.ronniehawkins.com/discography.html

RONNIE HAWKINS, THE HAWKS AND THE BAND
Bearsville Studio, Bearsville, New York, September 1992
Ronnie Hawkins (vocals), Brian Thompson (guitar), Terry Danko (bass), Jerry Baird (drums), Leah Hawkins (chorus), Levon Helm (drums/harmonica/mandolin), Garth Hudson (accordion), Rick Danko (chorus). Producer Steve Thomson.
#

recording: Days Gone By. Quality QCD 2104

[journeybear]

Yeah, don't know what to say, though discogs.com is not 100% accurate. So you're off the hook, but they aren't, IMO. That said, I could be convinced that a chord strum or two made the cut, near the end.

[Fretbear]

He and Levon came up here because there was many gigs with steady money to be made in south Ontario as opposed to the American South. By the way, one of Ronnie's favourite lines was, I didn't know anything about Canada. Back in Arkansas, I heard that Canada was primitive, but when I got to Burlington (Ontario, where he had a steady gig), I realized that Arkansas was primitive.

When Ronnie and Levon (Lavon at the time) were trying to convince Levon's Dad to let him join Ronnie and go up North, his father cautioned Levon that it "was cold all the time up there and that the Eskimos were violent and might kill him...."

"This Wheels On Fire"

[Ranald]

Another line Ronnie had was that his father told him all Canada had was ten months of winter and two months of poor snowshoeing -- which is a slight exaggeration.

To us up here, Ronnie definitely didn't sound Canadian, eh.

[brunello97]

I think the Hawk’s purported enticement to Robbie Robertson to join his band might have been a bit more persuasive.

Mick

[Ranald]

I think the Hawk’s purported enticement to Robbie Robertson to join his band might have been a bit more persuasive.

Mick

Agreed. And it does sound like something Ronnie would say. (Adult content, see, "The Last Waltz.")

[Fretbear]

As Robbie added, that while it turned out to be true for the most part, there was a definite issue regarding quantity vs. quality......(!)

[journeybear]

And Ronnie was an educated man for his time ... "he studied physical education at the University of Arkansas, where he dropped out just a few credits short of graduation."

Pardon me, but I don't think being unable to complete a degree in phys ed is a compelling argument for being "educated." He was wise in other ways, though, and you will get no argument from me on that score. Heck, he probably got a Ph.D. from The School Of Hard Knocks, as well as being a Road Scholar.

[journeybear]

Speaking of Robbie, here's from his official facebook page.

My heart sank when I heard “The Hawk” just flew into the sunset.

The story of The Band began with Ronnie Hawkins. He was our mentor. He taught us the rules of the road.

Ronnie Hawkins brought me down from Canada to the Mississippi delta when I was 16. He recorded two songs I’d written and thought
I might be talented. He tried me out on guitar and bass the only problem was; I’m too young to play in the clubs they toured, I was too inexperienced, not a good enough musician yet, and there are NO Canadians in southern rock and roll bands. But I practiced until my fingers were bleeding and he ended up hiring me against all odds.

Ron prided himself in always having top notch players in his group. Levon Helm his drummer in the Hawks and I talked Ron into hiring Rick Danko on bass and vocals, Richard Manuel on piano and vocals and Garth Hudson on organ and sax. Along with Levon and me this became the magic combination.

Ronnie was the godfather. The one who made this all happen.

He had us rehearsing constantly into the wee hours. We balked about it, but we got better and better. Our goal whether we knew it or not.

After the Hawks left Ron and went out on our own, we joined up with Bob Dylan. Next the Hawks became The Band and the rest is history, as they say.

All starting out with Ronnie Hawkins.

He was not only a great artist, a tremendous performer and bandleader, but had a style of humor unequaled. Fall down funny and completely unique. Yep, God only made one of those. And he will live in our hearts forever.

My deepest condolences to his family.

Bless his soul.

[Ranald]

Pardon me, but I don't think being unable to complete a degree in phys ed is a compelling argument for being "educated." He was wise in other ways, though, and you will get no argument from me on that score. Heck, he probably got a Ph.D. from The School Of Hard Knocks, as well as being a Road Scholar.

I'll let the Phys Ed major take up that one. I avoid arguing with them.

[journeybear]

Probably a judicious approach. Just about any one such could put a hurting on me, I reckon.

[Ranald]

I didn't know Ronnie was from Arkansas, like Levon; always thought of him as Canadian.

You're in good company. Today, I was at a Song Circle where two Canadians said the same thing. I responded, "He's Canadian like these two guys here," gesturing on either side of me toward two Englishmen, both Canadian citizens who'd been living in Ottawa for forty or fifty years. The two women who didn't realize Ronnie was from Arkansas couldn't have heard interviews with him, though there have been many on the CBC -- he was always an entertaining guest. Through the years, Ronnie maintained his southern accent to the degree that any Canadian could immediately spot it, though back home in Arkansas, folks might have thought that he sounded Canadian. An American who became a proud Canadian, Ronnie steered many Canadian musicians to the States, though reluctantly in the case of The Band; he wanted them to remain his band. When I was going to grad school in Newfoundland, a fellow student from Missouri, with roots in Louisiana, heard Garth Hudson interviewed on CBC radio. She said to me, "I thought he was Canadian." "Yeah, he's from southwestern Ontario. Why?" "He sounds like he's from down South." He did too.

[journeybear]

"Sounds like he's from down South." I do that, too. Sometimes, when I meet someone from, say, Georgia, I'll say, "Yeah, isn't that somewhere up north, right?" Oh, they do not like that! People can be so fussy about their hometown designation. Their identity can be so intricately connected to their regionalism. More often than not I have to lighten the suddenly-darkened mood by reminding them that everywhere in the US is north of here.