MIKE METTLER: What was the first record you ever bought?
ROBBIE ROBERTSON: The first record I ever bought with my own money was Here’s Little Richard [released March 1957, on Specialty Records]. I was addicted to his song “Rip It Up.” It was the most amazing shuffle. It still is, to this day.

METTLER: Do you still have it?
ROBERTSON: No, I don’t. I wore it out. [chuckles]

METTLER: Is there one record you’d consider your favorite, the one you keep going back to?
ROBERTSON: Well, there was a favorite of mine back then called New Orleans: Home of the Blues [1961, on the Minit label]. And it was a variety of New Orleans artists, like Jesse Hill doing “Ooh Poo Pah Doo.” I was also a big fan of Huey “Piano” Smith and His Clowns back then. When I got this record, it took me inside New Orleans music in a whole new way. I became a tremendous admirer of this music that rolled around out there, and have been ever since.

METTLER: I can hear some of those touches on The Band’s Live at the Academy of Music 1971 box set, thanks to the horn section and Allen Toussaint’s spot-on horn arrangements. In fact, I can feel a New Orleans fingerprint all throughout this live collection.
ROBERTSON: When we were making this record, Dr. John was in the audience. Bobby Charles was there too. And with Allen Toussaint with us onstage, there was a lot of New Orleans in the air.

For Robertson’s take on the better mixes found on The Band’s Live at the Academy of Music 1971 box set, go to The S&V Interview.