Artist:     The Weight Band

Album:     World Gone Mad

Label:     The Weight Band Records

Release Date:     2.23.18

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Save the last waltz for The Weight Band, who admirably carry on the legacy of The Band on World Gone Mad, a sunny record dedicated to the dearly departed souls of Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel. The sound is classic Americana, somewhat jumbled, loose and freewheeling, its feet planted firmly in the soil of upstate New York – a moonshine mash of haggard country, pastoral folk and bluesy, thrift-store rock ‘n roll dug up from The Band’s late 1960s/early ‘70s heyday.

These aren’t The Basement Tapes, however. The production of World Gone Mad is too clean and contemporary for such comparisons, and the mundane songwriting isn’t nearly as sublime. Although The Weight Band’s transcendent version of Bob Dylan’s “Day of the Locusts” is gloriously ragged, and the shuffling charm of “Fire in the Hole” and the boisterous swagger of “Big Legged Sadie” evoke memories of The Band’s more colorful material. That’s not surprising, considering every member of The Weight Band has strong ties to The Band, including Jim Weider, who wrote about half the songs on World Gone Mad.

Weider actually played with The Band from 1985 to 2000, touring with Helm, Danko and Garth Hudson for all those years and writing and performing on three studio albums – Jericho, High on the Hog and Jubilation. On the briskly paced title track, Weider’s fluid mandolin work pushes the pace, while the rough-and-tumble honking of his electric guitar adds blue-collar toughness to “Common Man.” A swirling carnival of keyboards, organ, accordion, harmonica and horns, World Gone Mad captures the rollicking spirit of The Band. It just doesn’t bring anything new to the party.

—Peter Lindblad