Garth Hudsonsdeath at age 87has left fans ofthe Bandgrieving.
Its the kind of thing that makes you really want to believe in a heaven, saysWilcosJeff Tweedy.
I dont know if I do.
Garth Hudson in 1969.David Attie/Getty Images
Tweedy first met Hudson in 1992, whenUncle Tupelotoured with the latter-day lineup of the Band.
Tweedy shared his memories of Hudsons unique musical legacy with RS.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.
Its hard to imagine Garth being anything other than Garth.
Like all my favorite musicians, theres no one else like him.
He was a one-of-a-kind musician.
Those are hard to come by, and theyre immensely important to the people that follow in their wake.
Those are the bright lights you look at.
Hed come see Wilco, and hed sit in with us, usually when we were playing Toronto.
Thered be some prerequisites for Garth coming down.
All reasonable requests in my book.
It was always sweet to be embraced by someone like Garth.
It really means something when a guy with that much idiosyncratic power comes to your side.
But it was always amazing.
I never got the impression that Garth had to think about things too much.
He was like a sorcerer or something.
Somebody that had a magical connection to their own musicality.
Thats one of the miracles of the Band they each had such an important role in shaping that sound.
They had one of the most equal distributions of talent, maybe, of any band ever.
And Garth added Garthness.
