Let's Talk Arts: A Q&A with Jim Weider, Founder of The Weight Band

This Saturday, guitarist Jim Weider and The Weight Band perform at Suffolk Theater in Riverhead. As a musician, Weider is a true rarity. He actually grew up in Woodstock, N.Y. in the 1960s when it was the epicenter of the musical universe. As a teenager just learning to play, he found himself surrounded by fabled musicians of the era, including drummer Levon Helm of The Band, who helped chart his career.

In 1985, Helm invited Weider to join the reformed version of The Band after the departure of original guitarist Robbie Robertson (who died just two weeks ago, on August 9). For 15 years, Weider was a guitarist in both The Band and the Levon Helm Band. Helm died in 2012, and the following year, Weider formed The Weight Band at Helm’s famed Woodstock barn, inspired to carry on the musical legacy of The Band.

In a recent phone interview from his home in Woodstock, Weider talked about all things music, as well as his friendship with Amagansett’s G.E. Smith, who will perform at The Suffolk with his group, The American Blues Band, on September 7. Smith and Weider play together often, and will team up next for a Masters of the Telecaster concert on September 15, at Infinity Music Hall in Hartford, Connecticut.

So you are performing with The Weight Band at The Suffolk, and also have a Masters of the Telecaster concert coming up with G.E. Smith in Connecticut. Those are two very different shows. Do you ever get confused about the various gigs and what you should be playing at any given moment?

JW: It keeps us on our toes. We have a hundred songs in our head that keep changing. It keeps you sharp and sharpens your nerve endings. There was a time when I was in a lot more bands — the Levon Helm Ramble, Masters of the Telecaster, Percolator — and all at the same time. It’s good old Americana music.

You’re one of the few guitarists playing this music who was actually born and raised in Woodstock. What was it like growing up around those older guys who were creating this legendary music?

JW: It was great, because they were such big influences. I didn’t have to go to the Fillmore or those places in Manhattan. When Albert Grossman started Bearsal Records, there were always great musicians playing constantly. Plus there were six or seven clubs, and from Jack DeJohnette to the guys in The Band, to Tim Hardin to Van Morrison, or John Hall of Orleans, all these great musicians were there.

You still live in Woodstock. How is the music scene there these days?

JW: I think it is pretty soft shoe now. It’s mostly restaurants. There are still great musicians who live up here, but there are not a lot of places to play anymore. Hopefully that will change again.

Can you talk more specifically about what was going on in Woodstock, musically speaking, when you were coming of age as a guitarist in the 1960s?

JW: Things were developing. Folk was going into rock. The Band took folk songs and rockabilly and rock, and it became Americana music. Van Morrison was putting horns in his band and there was more of a groove to his songs — the same for folk players. Things were changing and developing. You had jazz rock and Paul Butterfield’s guys, when they were not playing blues. Dave Sanborn had a band that was amazing, they were really creating jazz rock.

How did you first meet Levon Helm?

JW: I met Levon and the guys living around town. They’d come around the bars. I met them way back then, when they were starting The Band. Slowly you get to know everybody; when I moved back to town, I got to know [steel guitar and Dobro player] Cindy Cashdollar and [bassist] Frank Campbell who played with Levon and The Band.

Was it intimidating to take over for Robbie Robertson in The Band?

JW: Taking over Robbie’s role was big. But I was ready, because I had done all the leg work. I’d been in Atlanta and Nashville, doing four sets a night, a month in each venue for years. But I was rough on the edges.

What did you learn from your time playing alongside Levon Helm?

JW: Levon was great. He was always supportive and he wanted you to just go for it.

Tell me about your friendship with G.E. Smith, since you’re both Masters of the Telecaster.

JW: We talk and play every month or two — we’ve been doing this for years. I met him at the Long Island guitar show and got to know him again when I did the Bob Dylan 30th anniversary show at MSG. We hooked up then, and then started putting these Telecaster shows together, that was over eight years ago, first at the Iridium in Manhattan. We get to play some roots, rock and roll and play our Telecasters and have fun. He says I’m too loud and I say he’s too loud.

You hold Camp Cripple Creek every year at the Full Moon Resort in upstate New York. Is that like Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch in southern Ohio where guitarists come from all over to hone their craft?

JW: It’s similar. We do it every year. It’s like three or four days. We have workshops and it’s all about The Band’s music. It’s a great thing for Band fans, they don’t have to be musicians.

Do you get a lot of young guitarists at the camp representing the next generation eager to learn this music?

JW: Sometimes. But they’ve got so much on YouTube now, it’s so unbelievable. They don’t have to do like me, put a nickel on a record player to slow it down while you’re learning.

Are there any new musicians out there now who you particularly admire?

JW: I like Bon Iver when he has a full horn section. I like his chord changes and I think he’s real unique. I also like David Gray’s songwriting.

What can audience members at this weekend’s Suffolk Theater show expect to hear?

JW: We’re looking forward to being at the Suffolk Theater – it’s a great place to play. We’re going to be doing the new album, “Shines Like Gold,” then we also do some Band classics and Allman Brothers tunes, because Matt Zeiner played with Dickey Betts. Plus, we’ll do a couple Grateful Dead tunes. It’s an Americana good time.

Suffolk Theater presents The Weight Band on Saturday, August 26, at 8 p.m. The Weight Band features: Jim Weider (guitar, mandolin and vocals), Michael Bram (drums and vocals), Brian Mitchell (keyboards and vocals), Matt Zeiner (keyboard and vocals) and Albert Rogers (bass, vocals). Tickets are $49 to $59 at thesuffolk.org. Suffolk Theater is at 118 East Main Street, Riverhead.