10 Years Ago Today, Dylan Nailed “The Weight” With MMJ's Jim James And Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy

In the summer of 2013, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy took part in one of the most epic renditions of The Band’s roots rock classic “The Weight,” to date. The occasion was the Americanarama Festival of Music tour, in which Wilco, and My Morning Jacket opened for the legendary headliner, Bob Dylan. While the tour began with each act doing their own sets, a few collaborations cropped up with MMJ’s Jim James, and Tweedy joining Dylan for covers of the Reverend Gary Davis’ “Twelve Gates to the City,” and Blind Willie Johnson’s “Let Your Light Shine on Me.”

But those obscure one-offs were followed by the much more recognizable likes of Robbie Robertson’s “The Weight,” which premiered at Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach on July 24, 2013. The twangy opening chords, that has become a rock standard since its 1968 release on The Band’s Music From the Big Pink, instantly made the audience erupt (on the YouTube clip of the song above, someone yelling “Holy shit!” can be heard), and Dylan’s croaky handling of the first verse continued the rapt reception. 

After James’ soulful singing of the second verse, Tweedy, who had played “Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard” in Wilco’s set earlier that evening, wonderfully sang the third verse. Dylan masterfully regained the song for verse #4, and they all provided their ragged harmonies to the song’s concluding lines.

I was at this show, and was among those whose jaws dropped when this song was played. I rank it among the greatest moments I’ve ever seen live as it was a definitive performance through and through.

 

Despite his history with The Band, and the fact that he owned the song’s copyright (Robertson wrote it while being paid a salary by Dylan), this was only the second time that Dylan had performed “The Weight” live. On their Dylan and the Band’s much heralded 1974 tour, he would often leave the stage during The Band’s sets, and there’s no evidence that he ever joined in on the song, but at Levon Helm’s gig at Lone Star Café in New York on May 29, 1988, Dylan provided his hearty vocals and guitar to the crowd pleaser. 

 

Dylan, James, and Tweedy went on to play “The Weight” three more times on the Americanarama tour in 2013 picking up some guests stars along the way to help out. The J. Geils Band’s Peter Wolf helped out at Pier A Park in Hoboken, New Jersey on July 26, Ryan Bingham guested at the USANA Amphitheatre, West Valley City, Utah on August 1, and at the tour’s last performance of the classic at the Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre in Irvine, California on August 3.

Tweedy wouldn’t return to the song for nearly a decade until Wilco broke it out for their Sky Blue Sky 2022 festival at the Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Mavis Staples, after belting out The Staples Singers’ signature song, “I’ll Take You There,” with Tweedy and Co. again put in a passionate performance of “The Weight.” Wilco, and Staples were also joined by Sima Cunningham, Liam Kazar, Kurt Vile, Nubya Garcia, and Spencer Tweedy for the song that served as the show’s finale.

In his upcoming book, World Within a Song, Tweedy wrote about the much-loved tune, particularly the live version from Martin Scorsese’s 1978 concert classic film “The Last Waltz,” and Staples’ performance (from an excerpt posted on Tweedy’s Substack newsletter Starship Casual):

“As great as the original studio recording of this song is, it doesn’t have Mavis Staples. I’ve watched it a thousand times and I still can’t understand the full ramifications of what it tells us about Mavis’s singular talent. Pure commitment, entirely free of pretense, a range of emotions on display in one line that surpasses what most other singers could summon up in an entire career…and above all else, the thing I think it’s impossible to find more of in any other footage of any other artist, joy.”

So let’s end with that performance as it may be the most definitive version of “The Weight” there is:

More later...