He grew up listening to county hoedowns on the radio, learning Bach preludes and fugues and studying music theory, harmony and counterpoint. He first played in public at St. Luke’s Anglican Church and at an uncle’s funeral home, then began a musical career that took him, from 1961 to 1963, to Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, a boisterous rockabilly and rhythm-and-blues band that included the other four members of what would become the Band, three of them Canadians. Mr. Helm was from Arkansas.
According to Mr. Helm and others, Mr. Hudson had kept turning down pleas to join the group until he was offered a new organ, an extra $10 a week to give the others music lessons and the title “music consultant” — all so that his parents would feel better about their gifted son playing mere rock ’n’ roll.
After leaving Mr. Hawkins, the former members of the Hawks toured on their own, and then with Mr. Dylan, who recruited them to accompany him on his groundbreaking 1965 and 1966 folk-rock tours. Afterward, they settled near Woodstock, where the collaborations with Mr. Dylan became the stuff of rock lore. (Known to the locals there as simply “the band,” the five decided to name themselves that.)
The Band recorded its first album, “Music From Big Pink,” in 1968. With the release of a follow-up, “The Band,” in 1969, the group’s distinctive mix of rock, r&b and country became a phenomenon.
Songs like “The Weight,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and “Up on Cripple Creek” offered a rich, anachronistic distillation of diverse American musics, with echoes of the Civil War and the nation’s rural past. Mr. Hudson was the wizard behind the scenes adding pastoral touches to the band’s sound out of Aaron Copland or Charles Ives.
His dark beard and inscrutable expressions made him look somewhere between a dour lumberjack and an Old Testament prophet, giving him the appearance of serious craftsman lost in his music rather than a crowd-pleasing rock star. His musical influence was enhanced by the fact that he played the Lowrey organ, which had a richer tonal range than the Hammond used by most rock organists. Much of his work consisted of adding rich counterpoint and textures to the music while other members’ singing and playing were more in the forefront.
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