Garth Hudson, Master Organist Who Was Last Surviving Member of The Band’s Original Lineup, Dies

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The Band, Music From Big Pink album photograph, Bearsville, Woodstock, NY, 1968. (L-R): Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson, Robbie Robertson. (Photo © Elliott Landy; used with permission)

Garth Hudson, who with Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel formed The Band, one of the most influential music groups of the rock era, died today (January 21, 2025) at age 87, “peacefully in his sleep.” Hudson, a multi-instrumentalist but known primarily for his trademark swirling organ playing, was the last surviving member of the Americana group’s original lineup, following the August 2023 death of Robertson. Hudson had been living in a nursing home in or near Woodstock, N.Y., the upstate town where the group lived and recorded, beginning in the late ’60s.

Hudson was born into a musical family on August 2, 1937, in Windsor, Ontario, one of the group’s four Canadian members. (Helm, the lone American, was born in Arkansas.) As a young man, Hudson studied piano while learning theory, harmony and counterpoint. He also played organ for church services.

He performed with dance bands and joined a rock and roll group, Paul London and the Capers, from 1958 through 1961, before becoming the music consultant, organist and saxophonist at age 24 for Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, the ace Arkansas-based rhythm and blues band, from 1961 to 1963.

After leaving Hawkins, Levon and the Hawks toured on their own. Albert Grossman’s assistant, Mary Martin, introduced them to Bob Dylan, who recruited them to accompany him on his 1966 folk-rock tour, and they settled in West Saugerties, N.Y., near Woodstock. Dylan was a frequent visitor to their house, known as “Big Pink” for its garish exterior color, and Hudson recorded their collaborations, resulting in the legendary Basement Tapes.

The Band in the kitchen of “Big Pink,” Easter Sunday, West Saugerties, NY, 1968, (L-R): Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Robbie Robertson. (Photo © Elliott Landy; used with permission)

In 1968, the Hawks became known simply as The Band and recorded their seminal debut album, Music From Big Pink. Over the next eight years, The Band continued recording and touring, releasing eight albums and performing for full houses around the world. Among the highlights of these shows for many in the audience, and the other Band members themselves, is “Genetic Method,” Garth’s improvised introduction to “Chest Fever.”

The Band called an end to touring with a lavish final concert on Thanksgiving 1976 as documented in Martin Scorsese’s film, The Last Waltz.

Hudson spent the next 16 years in California’s music scene, contributing to several movie soundtracks, such as the Academy Award-winning The Right Stuff and Scorsese’s films Raging Bull and The King of Comedy, among others. He also enjoyed recording and collaborating with hundreds of musicians on their albums. A brush fire in 1978 swept through the hills of Malibu and destroyed the Hudsons’ new home, Big Oak Basin Dude Ranch, as he and his singer/actress wife, Sister Maud, were making renovations.

Garth Hudson continued to perform with a new edition of The Band frequently through the ’80s and ’90s. He moved back to the Woodstock area in 1991 and recorded three CDs with The Band over the next few years.

He recorded and performed with many artists, including Los Lobos, the Gipsy Kings, Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Marianne Faithfull, Roger Waters, Norah Jones, Jennifer Warnes, Cyndi Lauper, Barenaked Ladies, John Sebastian, Jesse Winchester, Geoff Muldaur, Tom Rush, Livingston Taylor and dozens more.

His first solo CD, The Sea To the North, was released in 2001. He and Sister Maud released a duo CD, Live at the Wolf (in London). He reached into his vault for more tapes that he recorded and played on in the basement with Bob Dylan and The Hawks. They were restored and the collaboration was released as Bob Dylan and The Band: Basement Tapes Complete and Bob Dylan and The Band: Basement Tapes Raw 2014 (though they were still the Hawks).

Hudson participated in several 2017 concerts for The Band celebration known as The Last Waltz 40 Tour.