Jules Shear’s 1991 “Basement Tapes” Represent Last Recordings Ever Made by The Band

It was producer Rick Chertoff who first called Jules Shear at his Woodstock, N.Y., home in 1991 and told him to pay a visit to The Band and offer his services as a songwriter.  At the time, Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson (with guitarist Jim Weider and keyboard player Stan Szelest) were trying to convince record labels that they could soldier on without Robbie Robertson and the late Richard Manuel. Chertoff commissioned a demo on behalf of Columbia Records and dispensed Shear to meet with them.

The result was a group of demos that really were Jules Shear’s Basement Tapes, recorded in a single room in a Woodstock barn, ranging from the politically charged “Long Ways Across Tennessee” to the Chuck Berry blues guitar of “Baby Don’t You Cry No More” to the gospel soul of “River of Honey,” all recorded on Garth Hudson’s four-track machine.

When Chertoff left Sony Music, the tapes sat in limbo.  One of Shear’s collaborations with Stan Szelest, “Gone Too Soon,” a tribute to the late Richard Manuel, ended up on The Band’s 1993 album, Jericho.  The rest have been unheard – except by diehard collectors – until recently.

Longtime The Band cohort, creative aide, producer, engineer and fellow performer Aaron “Professor Louie” Hurwitz was the man behind those original sessions. The 50-year music veteran was part of The Band organization from 1985 to 2001, producing all three of their ‘90s albums, Jericho, High on the Hog and Jubilation.

“It’s like coming full circle for me,” says Hurwitz. “At the time, nobody at the major labels thought The Band could carry on without Robbie. These songs, which they co-wrote with Jules at the time, proves that’s simply not true.  They were reinventing themselves and now we can hear that.”

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