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Remembering Richard Manuel: Just Outside the Spotlight

Some losses in the culture of music are immeasurable simply by the silence that falls in the aftermath of their absence. For Richard Manuel, who lost his struggle with addiction and depression on March 4, 1986, the silence was all too real and too loud.

All five members of The Band were major forces in popular music giving a distinctive voice to an indefinable collaboration of music, which today many call Americana. Richard was equally adept at soul singing as he was with a mando-driven folk song, a country ballad or a dancing boogie bit of rock and roll. During his days on the road and in the studio, he sometimes filled in on drums while Levon Helm picked and sang with his mando in hand. But, Richard Manuel was most at home and familiar to audiences behind his piano, with his grizzly beard, behind wild eyes, singing songs that only his voice could fill with distinctive character, soul and authority that runs way down deep into the roots of the music so many have come to love.

It's to his credit that despite his struggle with addiction and the emotional stress of being on the road, he remained a professional and an ambassador of the music he brought to the light of day from those early Woodstock basement days. During the in between years of The Last Waltz and the welcome re-formed Band of 1983, Manuel and his constant friend and band mate, Rick Danko, toured with ex-Byrd, Gene Clark and a rotating roster of veteran musicians including John York of The Byrds circa 1968. When remembering those touring days with Richard, York often speaks of the constant drug abuse on the road, but he is quick to add that both Richard and Rick were always professionals on stage.

As can be heard today on Band songs like "Across The Great Divide," "I Shall Be Released," "Whispering Pines" and "The Shape I'm In," his vocal had range and character. There is still no mistaking the fullness and rich quality of his voice. When he joined with Rick Danko and Levon Helm a unique vocal force was formed that had a near ethereal high lonesome gospel quality to it. The three of them were undefinable, original and without peers as vocalists as they interchanged lead and vocal harmonies in a way that was seamless and haunting. When Levon Helm passed away last year, the third voice of that soulful trio was reunited in heaven and no doubt have given the angels something more holy to hear than can be found in any church today.

Richard Manuel was a rare artist who was content to be a contributor; one part of a greater sound. On stage, he sometimes seemed to come just out of the shadows peering through weary eyes into the spotlight; but he was always ready to lean back into the darkness and let the music speak for itself.

He finally did drift out of sight twenty-seven years ago. Even so, we can still hear him. In the darkness, as the silence breaks, Richard Manuel's voice still comes through as clear as the day he first sang with an egoless grace that is rare in music today. Today it is good to remember his legacy grounded in his love of music over glory and fame. He was always willing to be simply one with the moment presented in a song. He still lives there, thank God. Today, if it were possible to listen in to heaven's radio, we would hear Richard Manuel singing out of the darkness one more time, just on the outer edge of the spotlight....whispering in pines or in the halls of a station.

Comment by Spencer Lewis on March 5, 2013 at 5:59am: "Isn't everybody dreaming, then the voice I hear is real

Out of all the idle scheming, can't we have something to feel?" - IN A STATION (Richard Manuel)

Always good to have writers like Terry out there to set this world straight again.

Comment by Terry Roland on March 5, 2013 at 7:43am: Thank you, Spencer!

Comment by Steve Ford on March 7, 2013 at 1:11pm: Another great piece, Terry - I can't believe it's 27 years. The Band had elements of rock, soul, folk and country, but they brought them together to create an original sound. History puts them in a jigsaw puzzle with Americana pieces all around but, in their heyday, they were unique. Any band would have been blessed to have just one of those voices - that The Band had all three was a marvelous twist of fate.

Comment by Terry Roland on March 7, 2013 at 1:26pm: Thanks, Steve....Yeah...a wonderful twist of fate...those voices and the songs...

Comment by Victoria Folkerts on March 8, 2013 at 5:43am: Very nicely done.

Comment by kj miller on March 8, 2013 at 6:21am: Thanks for this piece, the Manuel voice refused to stay out of the spotlight. When ever I go back to favorite Band bits, it most often turns out to be this voice. The three together, hard to replace. Great piece.

Comment by sluggo on March 8, 2013 at 6:24am: the first time I saw the guys they were the Hawks backing up Ronnie Hawkins, playing teen dances at our local union hall.. a few years later they were headling as the Band ..THE BAND.

My biggest disappointment in music is the sad fact there could never be a reunion of the Band,not only Richard, but Rick and Levon as well. There is nothing in my entire collection of recorded music, and I means 45` 33`s tapes and discs that gets played as often as the Band.

thanks for a well written , heart felt story Terry.

sluggo

Comment by John Nieman on March 8, 2013 at 6:48am: The Band came out when I was in my teens....I had all the albums but it wasn't until about a dozen years ago that I began to listen to them all again and gain a better appreciation for the depth of their music! Reading this article reminded me of when I listened first to Live at O'Tooles, with Richard and Rick Danko. All those years later, you can hear that for them, it was all about the music.....they loved what they did and you can feel it on this album....

Comment by beachgal SF on March 8, 2013 at 8:02am: Thank you. Their music they created and shared with us from Hawkins, Dylan, the what do we call ourselves, Hawks, Canadian Squires, finally The Band, has been part of my soul's food since I first heard them backing a Jackie Wilson show I went to hear. Today when I play their music for a much younger audience who only sort of has heard of them...I usually hit surprised minds when I say this is a song written or done by The Band. So many think now these are American standard songs. Indeed they are classic standards. We are blessed to have the voices in the American archive.

Comment by Gray Dunlap on March 8, 2013 at 8:06am: I was at the second to the last show Richard played; it was at an outside venue in St. Petersburg, FL on an unseasonably cold night. Even with the cold weather (which can come as a bit of shock for natives and long-time residents), I remember being surprised that the crowd wasn't bigger. Regardless, it was a revelation to finally hear all those amazing songs in person, sung by those three incomparable singers (after more than a dozen years and hundreds of spins of "Rock of Ages"). And even though they must have played the majority of those songs countless times over the years, their performance that night made them as fresh to me as when I first dropped the tonearm onto side one of "Rock of Ages."

In those pre-Internet/ND days (when most of my music info still came from the pages of Rolling Stone or the programmers at our great local listener-sponsored station WMNF), I had no idea about the personal struggles of Richard (and Rick Danko). So, it was a surprise when I heard that only two nights later, Richard had decided to end it.

Thanks for the reminder.