ABSTRACT
The Band was a key force behind the back-to-the-roots trend in late 1960s rock music. Their sound represented a populist amalgam of country, folk, and rhythm and blues; its most notable feature, however, consisted of compassionate, blue-collar poetry-often evoking historical themes from the standpoint of the common man-communicated by a loose vocal interplay that often had one singer begin a line of a verse and another chiming in to finish it.
