The 30th anniversary of ‘Jericho,’ the reunited Band’s comeback album

The Band, clockwise from top left, embody vocalist-pianist Richard Manuel, songwriter-lead guitarist Robbie Robertson, vocalist-bassist Rick Danko, singer-drummer Levon Helm, and organist-accordionist Garth Hudson. Some three months prior to the drop of their anticlimactic fourth studio album “Cahoots,” the original Americana quintet are seen commanding their second concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall on June 3, 1971. Photography by Michael Putland / The Band’s official Facebook

“Some people, including promoters, had difficulty working with The Band because of the absence of Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson,” confesses 1986–1994 manager Joe Forno, Jr. in a heart-to-heart chat. “We wanted to go on tour with the Allman Brothers Band, so they cherry-picked a few dates for us. I was with their agent and said, ‘We wanna do all the shows with you guys.’ Their reply — ‘We really miss Robbie and Richard.’ I blurted out, ‘You got more dead guys than we do!’ I shouldn’t have said it, but it was true.”

Thirty-seven years in the wake of Manuel’s suicide in a forlorn Florida motel room [key lyricist Robertson staged his exit with Scorsese’s jaw-dropping Last Waltz concert documentary in 1978], the Levon’s Man: Woodstock, the Death of Richard Manuel, and My Decade Managing The Band registered pharmacist turned author weighs the convoluted history behind Jericho, the “New Sound of Country Rock” group’s 1993 record. “Levon Helm, Rick Danko, and [sole surviving Band alum] Garth Hudson persevered through various tragedies and got a second chance because of Jericho,” affirms Forno. “The culmination of their efforts to record their first album since The Last Waltz is an inspiring story.”

The Joe Forno Jr. Interview, Part One