This film on the Band’s second album was the first I made for the Classic Albums series. I had always been a massive fan of Bob Dylan but had somehow overlooked his former backing band. Doing my research for the project was a voyage of discovery for me and they subsequently became one of my favourite bands of all time. In this clip from the film Robbie Robertson tells us how he composed The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. When we were filming with Robbie we had no idea what he was going to play, and when he played the opening notes of the song I got goose bumps, and to hear him sing the song that I had only ever heard sung by Levon, was a special moment for me. When we later approached record producer Glynn Johns to be in our film of the Who’s Next album (which he produced) he said he only agreed because he had been such a fan of the Band film.
