Primary Wave Music Publishing has entered into a marketing and administration agreement with the legendary recording artist and songwriter Robbie Robertson. As part of the agreement, Primary Wave Music Publishing will now represent the majority of Robertson’s catalog – both past and present – including some of his biggest hits for The Band such as “Up On Cripple Creek”, “Rag Mama Rag”, and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” which is considered to be one of the greatest songs of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine. Primary Wave will also work with Robertson to not only market his catalog of music, but also his name and likeness.
“I so look forward to mixing it up with Primary Wave. They bring a progressive outlook to today’s musical landscape,” says Robertson. He goes on, “I find something extremely refreshing and ambitious about their working process. We have a lot of ideas in common, and I think this is going to be a terrific relationship, that I’m very excited about.”
“It’s a great honor for us to welcome Robbie Robertson to the Primary Wave family,” says Marty Silverstone, Senior Vice President of Creative & Head of Sync for Primary Wave Music Publishing. He continues, “Robbie is an all-time legend of songwriting and a music pioneer. We’re excited to work with him, and to create new opportunities for his exceptional catalog.”
Born in Toronto in 1943, Jamie Royal “Robbie” Robertson is best known for his work as lead guitarist and primary songwriter for The Band, and for his career as a solo recording artist. His work with The Band was considered instrumental in creating the Americana music genre. Learning guitar at a very early age, Robertson would stay active in Toronto playing in various teenage groups and ultimately began recording music in 1960. Throughout the 60s, Robbie would write for, and record and tour with, Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks. In 1965, Bob Dylan was looking for a backup band and recruited Robertson to play guitar. He later brought in the remaining members of The Hawks to perform with Dylan through 1966. A year later The Hawks would become The Band and sign to Capitol Records. Their debut album Music From Big Pink, would go on to receive critical acclaim and was revered by some of the biggest names in rock, including The Beatles, Eric Clapton, and The Rolling Stones. The Band would continue to record and tour throughout the 70s and in 1976, after 16 years together, they said farewell with their Last Waltz concert at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The show was filmed by Martin Scorsese, was released in 1978 and has since been hailed as one of the greatest concert films ever made. Robbie would continue to work with Scorsese, scoring many of his films in the 80s, and would go on to become a sought-after film soundtrack producer and composer. In the years since The Band, Robertson released six solo albums including 2019’s Sinematic. He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame as a member of The Band, and has been inducted to Canada’s Walk of Fame, both with The Band and on his own. He is ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 greatest guitarists. He has been inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Songwriters.