The Band and its members — Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson, and Levon Helm — are often referred to as one of the most influential American acts coming out of the late 1960s and early ‘70s.

But educator, musician and biographer Craig Harris will be the first one to remind folks that four of The Band’s five talented members hailed from Canada before they were enlisted to back folkie Bob Dylan as he made his historical transition from acoustic to electric in 1966.

In a recent interview with The Newtown Bee — ahead of his September 24 Booth Library talk highlighting his new book, The Band: Pioneers of Americana Music — Mr Harris explained that if it wasn’t for Dylan making that unexpected and controversial stylistic shift, his pioneering quintet may have never made it into the history books and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

So many of the original songs The Band produced have been emulated and covered by so many diverse acts around the world, it is impossible to deny them their due. But as Mr Harris noted, the five men who came together during that original creative period from 1966 to 1976 were all extremely gifted in their own rights — and with those mighty talents came headstrong egos that eventually caused the group to split.

That fertile period yielded a memorable library of tunes including “The Weight,” “Life is a Carnival,” “The Shape I’m In,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Rag Mama Rag,” “Up On Cripple Creek,” and the Dylan collaboration, “I Shall Be Released.”

At a time when popular music was dominated by heavy metal, acid rock and bubblegum hits, Mr Harris said The Band rebelled against the rebellion, firing up among young people of the era “with tight ensemble arrangements, masterful musicianship, impressionable lead vocals, earthy harmonies, highly literate lyrics, and a profound respect for the music of the American South.”

Without any seeming intent, these diversely influenced musicians created material fusing R&B, jump blues, country, folk, boogie-woogie, swing, Cajun, New Orleans-style jazz, and rock.

Harris points out that the band was literally decades ahead of their time as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted quintet set foundations for the Americana music that rose from the ashes of 21st Century pop three decades years later.

Mr Harris said he became a fan of The Band from their very early debut with Dylan, but readily acknowledges early ‘60s R&B artist Ronnie Hawkins for bringing the core group together in his native Toronto.

As the story goes, Hawkins would quickly deconstruct any local Toronto bands that were competing with his own by hiring away their best musicians. And this is how he assembled the quintet that later broke away to first become Levon and the Hawks, and The Canadian Squires, before catching the attention of Dylan, who saw the group in a Toronto bar and snapped them up to support his first electric tour.

Harris taught music in public and charter schools for a quarter of a century before launching his multicultural and interactive Drum Away the Blues program in 2007. His music-oriented articles, reviews, and photographs have appeared in many newspapers and websites.

Playing drums and percussion since his preteens, Harris has appeared in concert and/or on recordings with Rick Danko, Rod MacDonald, CJ Chenier, Jonathan Edwards, Greg Brown, the Fast Folk Music Revue, Gaea Star Band, and the late Merl Saunders. 

The staff photographer of the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, in Hillsdale, N.Y., since its inception in 1988, his photographs have exhibited throughout New England.

Harris told The Bee that he never set out to be The Band’s biographer, but instead sought to learn and write as much and as deeply about music as he could.

“Articles I’ve written were about giving myself an expanding vocabulary because at the root, I’m a musician who’s been playing drums almost 50 years,” he said. “The reason I’ve been able to write this book, and to play with all the people I’ve been with, is because of that vocabulary.”

He also had several points of intersection where he met or interacted with members of The Band or their circles of collaborators including Dylan, which informed his later work. He also recalled falling in love with The Band during the his first concert experience seeing them live.

“I saw the original Band with Robbie Robertson in Central Park back in 1971,” Harris said. “In that outdoor venue, when Garth did his organ solo, he left me floating all around Manhattan. It was a soul awakening experience.”

He has since seen several configurations and reunions among members of The Band including a show with Dylan, and numerous smaller venue shows with various members performing solo.

“At one particular show I was playing with the opening act [for Danko], and Rick invited me up during his set to play with him,” Harris said. “I remember sitting up there behind the drum set wishing I could make time stand still.”

The writer said he enjoys his library talks as much as the attendees because he finds them a very comfortable setting for talking about a group that has awakened so many others. And with his background as an educator, he is very familiar with presenting before diverse crowds.

Booth Library is at 25 Main Street in Newtown. Craig Harris’s program is scheduled to run in the lower meeting room from 6:30 to 8 pm.

For additional information call 203-426-4533 or visit CHBoothLibrary.org.